FOF 2004 Bug/Potential Bug Thread

[Bee]

Originally posted by thenols
I am starting up my fifth season and have hit a bug that has prevented me from going any further. When I try to click on my depth chart screens, nothing happens. The screens won't pop up, so I cannot set or even see my depth charts. I won't play this game if I have to let the computer set my depth chart and roster every week, that takes away too much from the game. Is there a fix for this out there?

That's a new one. Could be a corruption or something. I'd probably backup my universe folder and try reinstalling.

[Ben E Lou]

OLB Getting a BUNCH of Carries

[Easy Mac]

I have an answer for the weird Depth Chart problems where players not on your team show up.

The players # is still the same, but the name has changed. All the stats work right as far as I know, and the right player sub at the right time, just some other kind of bug.

[Volvox]

I don't know if anyone else mentioned this: the last draft I ran I was able to select an extra player (8th round, pick one). The "exit" button (end draft) was lit but so was the "select player" and I selected the 225th pick. Mr. insignificant.

[thenols]

Originally posted by Bee
That's a new one. Could be a corruption or something. I'd probably backup my universe folder and try reinstalling.

Thanks for the help. However, I tried reinstalling the game and the same thing is still happening. Has anybody else had this problem?

[NoMyths]

Minor Bug/Tweak: If you select a different color profile for the game menus & such than your team name, it will revert to your team's colors when you load a saved game. Since there is a "save" option, one would expect (and hope) that the color profile would be saved, since it is a global option.

For example, when playing with the Chiefs (bright red menus), I use the Philadelphia Eagles color profile. When I load a saved game, it reverts to the bright red colors.

Thanks for the hard work, Jim!

[Bee]

Originally posted by thenols
Thanks for the help. However, I tried reinstalling the game and the same thing is still happening. Has anybody else had this problem?

Next thing would be to contact Jim at support AT solecismic.com. This sounds like a computer specific problem since others have gotten much further into the game without issue.

[Syrinx]

Minor Bug:
On the Recommend Player screen “Scout Recommendations” when searching for Free Agents the Salary/Request Range drop downs are for the value of the entire contract the Free Agent is seeking, instead of just the first year of the contract, like it is for players that are on Current Rosters (and all players in earlier versions of FOF).

This is only really noticeable during Free Agency, since one year deals are the only thing allowed during the season. This is a pain when trying to look for players who will just barely fit under a tight Salary Cap for the upcoming year.

[dacman]

1. Windows Help hangs for me if I try to setup a search database in FOF 2004 help. I don't think this is related to the help file name issue becuase I copied frfoot2004.hlp to frfoot4.hlp so both files would be there. I can use task manager to end "Windows Help" and FOF 2004 keeps right on trucking afterwards (WinXP).

2. The franchise tag dialog box is not large enough to display the entire text in the box. This is an old holdover from previous versions.

[Abe Sargent]

Here's something. David Boston receiving for 130 yards, 9 receptions, and 3 TDs, but he wasn't even listed in the Players of the Week when receivers with significantly worse stats were.

-Anxiety

[BigJohn&TheLions]

I confirm the turning down of a penalty after a missed FG. 50 yd FG missed short of crossbar. Offsides. Penalty declined.

[Ragone]

Hmm am currently playing a game Pittsburgh At Cincinnati..(me cincy)


Opening Kickoff Pittsburgh is called for holding.. i accept and now i have the ball on pittsburghs goaline.. i mean thats a touch harsh to award us the ball on their goaline

[Ragone]

Also.. Just had unnes. Roughness called on pittsburgh.. and it remained 4th down... isn't that penalty a automatic first down?

[Honolulu_Blue]

I have run into a small problem. During my first off-season I went to re-hire my offensive coordinator. His contract was up and he was decent enough, despite my awful 3-13 record (I'm the Lions, what do you expect?). Unfortunately I made a bit of a gaffe and hired him as a HEAD COACH instead of an O-Coordinator. The game wouldn't let me progress until I signed an O-Coordinator. I did that, but couldn't find a way to fire one of my head coaches. I have begun the season with 2 head coaches. No idea how to fix this.

[Bad-example]

Trying to sim the exhibition season. With global settings set for coaches to handle all duties, I am still getting a pop up telling me that my depth chart is not completely filled.

[Yossarian]

Found a bug. And look at me, even posting in the right thread!

Got 'roughing the kicker' against my opponent but was assessed as 'running into the kicker'

[Solecismic]

I'd appreciate it if those who have reported bugs could check this list and follow up...


1) Could the person who had the game log of an illegal shift penalty declined, AND the result was a first down please post that section of their game log. I fixed a problem where the result was, for instance 2nd-and-25 accepted versus 3rd-and-3 declined. But I didn't see where that would be the case if the result were a first down.

2) I can not see where it's possible that a team would go for a two-point conversion when scoring in the fourth quarter. If there's a game log showing that, it would be great it that were posted.

3) As far as I can tell, illegal touching of a forward pass does not result in loss of down.

4) Someone mentioned that the labels for the formation charts (LT LG C/QB RG RT) are missing the RTs. I haven't seen that. Microsoft says the Arial font set is one of only about four guaranteed to be in any installation of the O.S. Is it possible that the person reporting this deleted that font set?
5) Someone mentioned that in order to start a new FOF game, you must restart FOF entirely. Is it possible the person reporting that had the multi-player window open at the time?

6) Someone reported that changing two players' numbers in succession led to both having the same number. I have tried this a few times, and haven't been able to recreate.

Thanks for your help. I hope to have this ready by the weekend, though the bug with players playing out of position seems difficult so far.

At this point, I have not come across anything that would invalidate a saved career. Every fix so far has not affected the player file.

[Maple Leafs]

Some AI oddities:

   1-10-CHI08 (10:53)   CHI 35 Thomas ran inside the right guard for 5 yards.
   Tackled by TOR 55 Thompson.
   Key block delivered by CHI 58 Villarrial.
   Penalty: CHI - Offensive Holding. Penalty was declined.

Why decline the penalty? Is 2nd and 5 really better than 1st and 14? Could the holding really be far enough up field to decline and allow a five yard gain?

   2-10-CHI21 (00:51)   CHI 12 Chandler pass completed to 86 Booker for 17 yards.
   Tackled by TOR 57 McKinnon, assisted by TOR 24 Wilson.
   TOR called time out.

End of the first half, and the defense is calling timeout after the offense has made a first down. Not an automatic timeout injury situatiuon, by the way. Seems like the "defence wants the ball back" AI is kicking in before it checks for a first down.

[wbonnell]

If while simulating games in FOF I move another application to the foreground, FOF appears to hang. According to task manager, it is in a "not responding" state. However, if I wait a bit (approximately the amount of time it would take to complete the simulation), control eventually returns to FOF. Not a bug per se, but certainly unexpected and odd behavior. Here are my specs:

-Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 1 and all windows update patches
-512MB PC2700 DDR Ram
-Amd Athlon 2500+ Barton
-Geforce 4mx, 64MB (detonator driver version 52.16)
-Maxtor 80MB , 7200RPM, 8MB cache hard drive
(anything else you need to know?)

None of my other programs exhibit this behavior. Any ideas?

[fantastic flying froggies]

Originally posted by Solecismic
I'd appreciate it if those who have reported bugs could check this list and follow up...

4) Someone mentioned that the labels for the formation charts (LT LG C/QB RG RT) are missing the RTs. I haven't seen that. Microsoft says the Arial font set is one of only about four guaranteed to be in any installation of the O.S. Is it possible that the person reporting this deleted that font set?

Jim, that's me and to the best of my knowledge, I have NOT deleted any font sets...

I have emailed a screenshot directly to Jim

[amdaily]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this (if anyone has room for a screenshot, I can e-mail it to you), but I drafted a rookie, looked at his agent and see he as a 0 rank among agents, and 0 players represented. The problem is, it also says he represents 5 players on my team . I didn't go though and check to see if he did or not, but I suspect the 0's were wrong.

[cthomer5000]

if you let the computer hire your coach/coordinators, the computer can override your owners spending limits, and higher someone at a higher salary than the owner has limited you to.

[petrochile]

Another bug, small again, is that the Packers also play in a dome.

[rjolley]

wbonnell: TCY will do that to me while simulating games. Tends to happen with most programs that do a lot of computations or otherwise hit the CPU hard.

[Rhone Ranger]

The "chemistry" section of a Player Report is missing for the team leaders. e.g. the Receivers Leader can be identified on the Attitude Advisory screen, but not on his own Player Report.

[CubsFan915]

Originally posted by Solecismic
3) As far as I can tell, illegal touching of a forward pass does not result in loss of down.

You are correct, I believe. In no level of football (even HS) is illegal touching a LOD penalty. In HS, though, offensive pass interference comes with a LOD.

(I've been officiating HS FB for two years now, in case anyone wonders how I know...)

[CubsFan915]

Originally posted by Volvox
I don't know if anyone else mentioned this: the last draft I ran I was able to select an extra player (8th round, pick one). The "exit" button (end draft) was lit but so was the "select player" and I selected the 225th pick. Mr. insignificant.

I'll second this - I was able to do the same thing last night.

[SegRat]

Dont know if this has been reported but, for me Mike McKenzie is listed this year as the fastest man. The problem is he just had ACL surgery and is out for 20 weeks. They claim he ran a 4.27. How in the world could anyone still run that fast when chances are he is still on cruthes!!

[Francis_Cole]

I've got a rather annoying thing, which isn't devasting but annoying!..
If you try and sign someone during the season they will only sign a contract until the season ends (a one year contract)... stating that they want "to prove themselves", which is annoying if they are a good player and you want them for longer.
Also, and more importantly you don't seem to be able to offer staff contract until their contract expires..

[Bee]

Originally posted by Francis_Cole
I've got a rather annoying thing, which isn't devasting but annoying!..
If you try and sign someone during the season they will only sign a contract until the season ends (a one year contract)... stating that they want "to prove themselves", which is annoying if they are a good player and you want them for longer.
Also, and more importantly you don't seem to be able to offer staff contract until their contract expires..

Those are both design decisions (and very good ones IMO), that keep the game balanced. The game would become easier if you could sign free agents during the season to long term deals (because they request much less than market value when unemployed). Also, by not allowing you to renegotiate coach and scout contracts while still under contract, it forces you to compete for their services on the market and makes you pay market value to keep them.

[Huckleberry]

Bee -

But veterans should be willing to sign during the season for years if they're on the decline. I think OOTP has done a reasonable job with this issue. Some players will be determined to test the FA market, but some will want to sign a deal for security.

[Solecismic]

Another follow-up...

Someone reported that kick return and punt return ratings are not being translated from the player file to the game (i.e., a 9/9 returner in the player file may be a completely lousy return man).

I'm just not seeing this, unless the player is a safety (in which case it's fixed now).

For questions 1 and 6 in my above post, I'd appreciate responses from the people who reported the problem. Also, I'm still looking for proof that a punter can get 100 tackles in a season outside of an old game plan import.

[Chubby]

Jim - an example would be Dante Hall who shows up as 0/0 in return ratings when he is coded at 9/9.

[Solecismic]

Does Kevin Dylla (in the player file shipped with the game)?

[Subby]

I just realized the maximize and minimize buttons are missing from the roster, free agency and draft windows.

Oh? They were never there?

Then is would be great if they could be added - GMs could get a lot more information on one screen - less scrolling.

Thanks, Jim!

[Dutch]

5) Someone mentioned that in order to start a new FOF game, you must restart FOF entirely. Is it possible the person reporting that had the multi-player window open at the time?

Yes, when the multiplayer window was open when I reported that and when I closed it and selected, NEW GAME, it began the process of starting a new solo game.

[chinaski]

I just started a new game with the 'alternative player file' with the real names file made by PrimeLord. Every player on my Seahacks had a Punt/Kick return of '0'. Including the main returners Engram and Morris.

Im new here, im not sure if this bug has been concretely identified yet, but it does exist for me.

Im assuming i should use the fictional player file untl this gets fixed?

-Henry

Originally posted by Solecismic
Another follow-up...

Someone reported that kick return and punt return ratings are not being translated from the player file to the game (i.e., a 9/9 returner in the player file may be a completely lousy return man).

I'm just not seeing this, unless the player is a safety (in which case it's fixed now).

For questions 1 and 6 in my above post, I'd appreciate responses from the people who reported the problem. Also, I'm still looking for proof that a punter can get 100 tackles in a season outside of an old game plan import.

[petrochile]

Originally posted by chinaski
I just started a new game with the 'alternative player file' with the real names file made by PrimeLord. Every player on my Seahacks had a Punt/Kick return of '0'. Including the main returners Engram and Morris.

Im new here, im not sure if this bug has been concretely identified yet, but it does exist for me.

Im assuming i should use the fictional player file untl this gets fixed?

-Henry

Welcome to the board Henry Chinaski!

I love your quote, "Many a good man has been put under the bridge by a woman."

[chinaski]

Originally posted by petrochile
Welcome to the board Henry Chinaski!

I love your quote, "Many a good man has been put under the bridge by a woman."

lol, thanks.

that quote shall be amended to "Many a good man has been put under the bridge by a woman - because of FOF."

[Maple Leafs]

Another AI glitch:

   4-01-NED36 (08:41)   NED 38 Konrad ran outside the right tackle for 0 yards.
   Tackled by TOR 71 Brown, assisted by TOR 90 Sapp.
   Penalty: NED - Offensive Holding.
   
   4-11-NED26 (08:32)   NED 13 Walter punted 30 yards from the NED26.
   TOR 39 Westbrook returned the ball 2 yards to the TOR46. Tackled by NED 73 Lingo.

Stopped them on 4th-and-1, but for some reason decided to accept the holding penalty. Not good.

(This was the third quarter, not some late game FG situation where field position was crucial.)

[Calis]

EDIT:

Nm, I found this reported right after I clicked send..sorry.

[vtbub]

When calling plays, I had a QB ejected, but he remained in the game

[Huckleberry]

Here's a screenshot of the screwy depth chart with in the Call Play View:



This didn't happen in my first season. Started in the second year.

[cuervo72]

Had my game crash last night, and it was in a situation where I've had it crash before, in fact I believe I had this occur in FOF4 a handful of times as well. I'm playing on a Win98 machine.

What I believe I did was to deactivate a player and replace him with another, but then forgot to put the player in the depth chart to replace the deactivated player. I went to sim through the week, but received a depth chart error (you have a player in your depth chart who is no longer on your active roster). I went to change the depth chart of what I thought was the appropriate unit (Offensive Line) and the game crashed. I was too lazy to capture the error, but whenever I run across this again I will and will post it. Has anyone witnessed a similar bug?

[Samdari]

I had one similar to cuervo I guess without the crash.

When making preseason cuts, I cut an old punter, who apparently was entrenched in the depth chart. I cannot sim my first preseason game now, because the game is apparently mad at me for cutting this punter. There are three player slots in the drop down menu for punter on the depth chart, one each for current P and K, and one blank one. I can think of nothing to sim past this point.

[dacman]

--
1-02-KCY02 (00:23) SDO 7 Flutie pass was dropped by 88 Parker.

2-02-KCY02 (00:14) SDO 7 Flutie pass completed to 21 Tomlinson for 2 yards and a touchdown!
Conversion Attempt: SDO 21 Tomlinson run failed. Tackled by KCY 66 Wilkerson.

Score: San Diego 18, Kansas City 17.
SDO 5 Scifres kicked off 52 yards from the SDO30.
KCY 82 Hall returned the ball 18 yards to the KCY36. Tackled by SDO 85 Gates.
Penalty: SDO - Offsides on the Kickoff.

Game MVP: SDO 7 Doug Flutie


Methinks Kansas City would want to give Dante' another shot at a return.

[cuervo72]

Got the crash again. Basically I checked my roster, deactivated a WILB and activated an MLB, checked my O-Line depth with no problem, checked my D-Line depth (I knew I needed to sub) and crash. Win98, ancient AMD 266.

FRFOOT2004 caused an invalid page fault in
module FRFOOT2004.EXE at 015f:005af643.
Registers:
EAX=00000010 CS=015f EIP=005af643 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=005af615 SS=0167 ESP=00f86c6c EBP=00f86c90
ECX=00000010 DS=0167 ESI=00000000 FS=198f
EDX=00000010 ES=0167 EDI=00fea80c GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 10 8b 4d f8 ff 52 04 89 45 e4 eb 07 c7 45 e4 
Stack dump:
00000001 bff7b99f 81634ab4 00fea80c bff7b9b6 81634ab4 00000010 00000010 007c06e0 00f86d04 007012c5 00fea80c 00fea80c 00df3a1c 01400071 0213024b 

[Plundun]

Don't know if this has been rapported. In 5.0b using TCY-generated players every new tight end has a 0 rating in Big-Play Receiving.

[Ben E Lou]

It may be time to start a new thread, so that Jim can more easily sort out post-5.0b issues. I'll get one going, with a link in the ref. thread.

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by Plundun
Don't know if this has been rapported. In 5.0b using TCY-generated players every new tight end has a 0 rating in Big-Play Receiving.

Nice catch!


Todd