Alright boyz, it's the BBCF First Impressions thread.

[Rich1033]

Thanks, the help is very much appreciated. Im DLing OpenOffice right now and I should be able to figure this out.

[Subby]

Hi Marmel!

[Rich1033]

Ok, I give up. I cleared the week 2 table in stats.dat and renamed the .old as the .sav file. Now Im getting "runtime error 70, permission denied" when I try to open the league. Im just going to go find a GDS support email and hope they can fix the problem along with any additional damage I did.

For people like me who have no clue what they are doing, I recommend using caution.

[Brillig]

I think you've gone a tad off the deep end, Skydog.

This:

It never ceases to amaze me how people love to hammer on an issue well after the developer has identified it as an issue that is on his radar for the next patch/update.

is fine - maybe a bit on the snippy side, but sure, I know how seeing the same bug report over and over can get annoying. But you should have left it there - there's no reason to continue engaging with JG after that point.

By appearing ban-happy and overly defensive, you merely create an image of yourself as someone who values his insider-status with the game developers over the opinion of the community. Since it's your domain and board, you're obviously free to do with it what you will. But it's not your community.

Word to the wise.

[DaddyTorgo]

careful brill. you don't have enuf posts to criticize the mod without fear of being banninated. LOL

[Butter]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

I think we should just ban anyone who ever says anything negative about a game. It's the only reasonable thing to do.

Originally Posted by Brillig

you merely create an image of yourself as someone who values his insider-status with the game developers over the opinion of the community.

Quoted for emphasis. That was a totally unnecessary argument, and reading that one of JG's posts got deleted is even worse than actually reading the argument. This reminds me of the time when an entire thread got deleted on the grounds that it might upset some guy who occasionally visited and happened to also create a FOF mod that somebody valued very highly. Silly.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

If the developer hadn't publicly posted what the issues are, then you MIGHT have a point, but since he has, you don't.

One of the fundamental concepts of software QA is to reproduce issues and log them with as much detail as possible. Sometimes it is only through the accumulation of these reports that a clear picture of the nature of the problem emerges.

As far as I'm concerned, this was exactly what John Galt was doing. As he noted, it's not like he was simply saying "this sucks", but he was offering another very-detailed example of the issue at hand.

Now, if Arles has said that he knows exactly what the problem is, but just hasn't fixed it yet, that's one thing. However, if he's still doing discovery on the problem, I doubt that having others log their experiences, in detail, will be a detriment to his process.

And before you ask, I do speak from experience, having managed QA for everything from small pieces of software to large enterprise apps.

[Buccaneer]

I guess the Squeeky Wheel Initiative reached its statute of limitations?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Must......resist...........urge..........for.........easy........joke.

hee hee hee...i'm giggling like a prepubescent girl just thinking about what the easy joke coulda been. lol

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

There's nothing wrong with it, per se. I just don't get why people see the need to continue to go on ad nauseum about the same issue when there are other fish to fry. Teams don't fall far enough when they lose. Arlie knows it, and has publicly said that that and other polling issues will be given a hard look for 1.1.

Puts on "be careful with wording" hat

I'm not speaking for Arlie, and he may feel differently (and frankly, it might help to know if this batch of reports is helping or not), but as a game developer my worst fear are bugs that people DON'T talk about. I hate seeing "I can't believe a patch was released that did not include a fix for bug X" when I've never even HEARD of bug X. Too many game players assume that if they discover a bug, the developer has discovered the bug, and so don't mention it.

As a result, I've never complained about too many bug reports. I've engaged in debates as to whether or not something was a bug, or how a feature should work, but the only time I've ever said "okay, you can stop posting about it now" is if I also include the "I've figured out exactly what's going on and have it fixed, so recheck it in the next patch."

I haven't seen Arlie say he's got enough info on the polls. You've quoted him as saying he's got one case figured out. And the posts you're bashing seem to indicate that there might be other problems. And each one has had a slightly different take on the problem, illustrating a slightly different case, which helps figure out what the underlying cause is.

So all you're doing is quashing potentially useful information.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

There's nothing wrong with it, per se. I just don't get why people see the need to continue to go on ad nauseum about the same issue when there are other fish to fry. Teams don't fall far enough when they lose. Arlie knows it, and has publicly said that that and other polling issues will be given a hard look for 1.1.

Well I am going to go on about the poles and don't give a Rats Ass if I am being repetitive or not, so deal with it...........

Everytime I go to "The Dollhouse" early in the day the Poles never work right.......twice now both Precious and Bambi have gotten stuck halfway down because the poles aren't greased correctly and I am getting sick of the issue always coming up. Last week one pole had Daisy still at the top, even though Coco had just put a major licking on her and Coco was still below her on the pole.

Now I will admit that later in the evening, things are much better with the poles, and all Girls seem to move up and down as they should, which really helps my immersion factor.

I don't think I am out of line voicing my concern over this issue with the Poles because I don't want any of these issues to be missed. Skydog just needs to be more understanding while we get these issues off our chest, and not be so faggoty about the whole thing.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Personally, I don't think that this is the most appropriate forum to talk about bugs...I think that it's more appropriate to talk about them at the GD forums since you have more of an audience there (not everyone at FOFC has bought BBCF); however, I have to say that I think that it is appropriate to talk about problems with the game, and the manner in which JG posted them is the right way to do it. Just my two cents.

Bravo RA, bravo!

Arlie does not check this thread as often as posts over at his forum. I think it's great people here know exactly how x issue should be fixed, but at least copy it over there as well.

Carry on...

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Well I am going to go on about the poles and don't give a Rats Ass if I am being repetitive or not, so deal with it...........

Everytime I go to "The Dollhouse" early in the day the Poles never work right.......twice now both Precious and Bambi have gotten stuck halfway down because the poles aren't greased correctly and I am getting sick of the issue always coming up. Last week one pole had Daisy still at the top, even though Coco had just put a major licking on her and Coco was still below her on the pole.

Now I will admit that later in the evening, things are much better with the poles, and all Girls seem to move up and down as they should, which really helps my immersion factor.

I don't think I am out of line voicing my concern over this issue with the Poles because I don't want any of these issues to be missed. Skydog just needs to be more understanding while we get these issues off our chest, and not be so faggoty about the whole thing.

The fact that this comes from someone named BYU makes it downright hilarious.

[Ben E Lou]

Ideas sent to Arlie for 1.1 this morning. This list was compiled from the 1.1 ideas thread, and also from a few other sources.

BOWL BOUND COLLEGE FOOTBALL

IDEAS FOR 1.1 AND BEYOND

INTERFACE

• Keyboard shortcuts in interface (ie ability to scroll from one player card to the next and move through long players lists in recruiting, etc., with the up and down arrows)
• HAVE THE DEPTH CHART LOCKS REMAIN IN PLACE FROM WEEK TO WEEK IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!
• HIGHLIGHT, HIGHLIGHT, HIGHLIGHT! On each and every large report, whether it is stats, or rankings, or All Conference teams, whatever, players on my team (or my team as a whole, if it is a team report) should be highlighted in color.
• Several folks (all of us in the “older” end of the text sim crowd) have identified the “tired eyes” issue. It looks like the problem is that the white characters are too bright. If it would be too much work to give a “dark-letters-on-light-background” option, how about “softening” the brightness of the light text in the interface? Let me say it clearly: I have never, ever, ever played a game that causes the amount of eye strain and discomfort that BBCF does. Never. I really feel like something needs to be done here. (Here’s another comment on the same thing: http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showpost.php?p=75249&postcount=59 )
• Would it be feasible to have a "Select all" button to “mass scout” a screen? Specifically, the first week of the recruiting stage can become a whole lot of repetitive clicking. For example, I scout every in-state player with 7 or better interest. If I could select all of the guys in that list by using the Windows standard method of selecting the top guy in the list, and shift-clicking on the bottom guy, then hit the “Scout” button, that would save a *TON* of time and mindless clicking.
• Please, please, please, add the ability in recruiting filters to look at “7 interest or greater” or ”3 stars or greater” rather than just looking. The Rivals.com recruiting page just has one button when doing a search that you click: “or better,” so if you select 4 stars and click the “or better” button, you’ll see all four and 5 star players. (NOTE: In looking through the “ideas for 1.1 thread,” this seems to be THE most-echoed request.)
• Including Position and Class Year on the Player Leaders screen.
• A 'Remove committed players from watchlist' button.
• I'd like a "Pitch" column on the Watch List screen. This will enable us to see which recruits we still haven't selected a recruiting pitch for quickly and easily.
• In scheduling, allow a sort on how interested teams are regarding playing at your place.
• On the Team Information report, show all the games played, i.e. bowl and league championship games. It doesn't show the conference championship or the bowl games we have played in.
• There are a fair number of statistics like yards per carry rushing that might stand to be tidied up a bit, and carried out to the same number of digits. it's more pleasing to see 4.75, 4.60, 5.00, 4.92... then it is to see 4.75, 4.6, 5, 4.92 -- especially when they are presented in columnar form.
• Adaptability player card tweak as mentioned here: http://www.greydogsoftware.com/foru...45&postcount=20

E-MAIL/REPORTING

• HTML and E-mail with a list of Bowl matchups
• Historical Team vs. Team Records
• End-of-season E-mail like FBCB with where all your seniors were projected to go in the draft. (Rank the top 224 Seniors/Early Declarers, weighted by position....) You’d have three options for Rounds 2-7 (early, middle, late) and a specific slot projection for the 1st round. (“ILB Joe Jones is projected to go undrafted. RB Johnny Smith is projected to go late in the 2nd round. OG Larry Thompson is projected to go in the 20th spot in the first round.”)
• On player cards for walk-ons, rather than “not available” for their rankings, put “unranked”—which is what 99.99% of walk-ons really are.
• Full list of recruit class (HTML, formatted something like this: http://fof.sportplanet.gamespy.com/...15&postcount=65)
• Recruit rankings report, not just my team, but how every team did. Make it also available via HTML.
• How about a bowls screen where all the bowl games are listed and teams that are being considered or at least the tie-ins ie. Peach Bowl SEC #4 team vs. Big East #2 during the season? And when the bowl teams are selected they are filled in as it happens. After the game has been played the score is entered in the page.
• Freshman All-America Team.
• A report in the history section that lists each team's recruiting ranking and Prestige for each season.
• Indication of the players that blitzed in the play, something like:
  
  Toledo ball, Q1, 3-9-TOL35 (12:50) 0-0
  Offense: Short Pass, Set: Shotgun, Play: SG-SE-slants
  Defense: Stop Pass, Set: Dime, Play: Dime-pass-ZoneBlitz, Blitzing: PlayerA, PlayerB
• An e-mail or other in game event prompted by winning a championship. As it is there's no feedback from the athletic director or anyone when you win a conference championship, for example.
• Would like to see a summary report that shows the current morale of players. To check morale now, have to open up and scan 75 player cards in which the advance buttons at the top of the page don't work. That means opening and closing 75 screens. At least have an E Mail which says the following players are FRUSTRATED. Then you could go an concentrate on those 3-5 players.
• List streaks for teams, and make ‘em sortable: longest postseason streak, and longest winning/losing streak.
• On the final recruit signings printout, please reduce to single spacing for the lines all related to the same player. The current format makes the report two or three pages when printed out. This could be reduced to one page for most classes with this change.
• An e-mail telling us when a player's injury status has changed. For example, when players are totally healed, or now "probable" instead of "questionable."
• Be able to print the pregame matchup screen to HTML. This would be HUGE for dynasty reports.
• I know we can examine the effectiveness of each offensive/defensive formation, as well as each particular type of play (attempts, average, TD, etc.). But we can only do so one formation/play at a time. Would it be possible to print a report that offers all of this information in a single page or two? That would make it much easier to examine what works and what doesn't.

GAMEPLAY

• Slight performance bonus for remaining with same coordinator, with bonus no longer increasing after 5 years. (At that point, every player in the system knows how he does things.)
• Add “Game Options” to have AI automate up to four things: offense depth chart, offense game plan, defense depth chart, defense game plan. I like to tweak my offensive game plan personally each week, but I use the "suggest" button for defense every week. Rather than just “Gameplan” on staff delegation, list “Offensive Gameplan” and “Defensive Gameplan.” Same for “Roster and Depth Chart.”
• Can you set it to allow the offensive/defensive strategy to remain set from year to year, and noly change to the assistant coaches recommendation if you push the suggest button. It is a minor hassle to reset all of the formation percentages each year.
• Automatic red-shirting for guys who are eligible for redshirting and don’t play a single down all year (even if they aren’t given the official tag.)
• It would be nice to see SOME incentive for a Louisiana Somethingoranother to play at a UGA, Texas, etc. It definitely should help increase the budget for the following year (big payday), and probably should provide a slight boost to player development due to competition (FBCB does both of these). Right now, there’s no reason whatsoever for small schools to play against big schools. Maybe a sliding scale budget bonus based on prestige difference of road opponents?
• Further piggybacking on the last item, it would be nice if budget were tied more to total home AND road attendance from the previous year.
• Add the ability for in-season created walk-ons to fill a roster. Specifically, if I only have three centers, and want to red-shirt one, I should be able to do so, and have the game generate a walk-on scrub to fill that roster slot. Similarly, if someone gets injured, I shouldn’t have to un-redshirt someone to fill that roster spot.
• If there is any way to start a new game at the coach hiring phase, or at LEAST to “Auto-sim x seasons, stopping at coach hiring,” that would be very, very nice.
• Set budget to increments of $5K or $10K on everything, so it can all be spent. Far too often, I have $5K left over.
• Also on budget: ALLOW US TO SPEND ZERO DOLLARS OUTSIDE OF THE REGION!!! When I have 20-25K to spend each week on recruiting, I don’t do a single thing outside of my own Region. I just can’t afford it. However, I have to waste $60K by spending $15K each on the other regions. Similarly, allow zero dollars for recruits of a certain position. Last year, when UGA had Brown/Ware/Lumpkin all about to be sophomores, they didn’t do any recruiting whatsoever at RB. None. They got a walk-on roster filler to come be a tackling dummy, but that’s it.

BUG FIXES/TWEAKS/OTHER ISSUES

• “Clear coaching stats” button that would be used after pre-simming for history.
• FG% is starting out good, but then once recruited players fill rosters, it gets a little too high again: ranging in the 70-72% area most of the time, as opposed to the real-life 67.6%.
• A few players are wayyyyyy too old (as in I have a 33-year-old on my team.) Also, in general, the guys are starting out too old. In real life, you’ll see a few guys play their first snap in college at age 17, and quite a few at age 18. Most true freshman should be 18, a smaller number 19, and a TINY number 20.
• Players who were position-switched are listed as their NEW position on the card for their high school ranking, rather than their old one. In other words, if I recruit the #75 QB in the nation, and move him to RB, the card should say that he was the #75 QB. Now, it says he was the #75 RB.
• When QB’s don’t play 100% of the game, have them come in and out based on possessions, rather than total plays. In other words, if my QB is set to play 80% of the time, there should be a 100% chance that he’ll play on the first possession, obviously, but then around a 25% chance on each subsequent possession that the backup will play that entire possession.
• More tweaking of the transfer process. I’m still seeing complaints about it. Basically, people get upset when their team gets hampered by an intentionally-unrealistically-overaggressive transfer algorithm.

[mauchow]

That list looks good SD. I definitely would like to see a lot of those things, especially the recruiting stuff you mentioned. Hopefully some get added.

[QuikSand]

Nice work compiling that list, SkyDog.

[Emiliano]

Great work on the list, SkyDog. A lot of useful stuff.

[Galaril]

1- These are ones I really agree need to be added if possible:
My team as a whole, if it is a team report/any stats screen ie team leaders should be highlighted in color.

2- How about a bowls screen where all the bowl games are listed and teams that are being considered or at least the tie-ins ie. Peach Bowl SEC #4 team vs. Big East #2 during the season? And when the bowl teams are selected they are filled in as it happens. After the game has been played the score is entered in the page.
Freshman All-America Team.



Great work on the list SD!

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Add the ability for in-season created walk-ons to fill a roster. Specifically, if I only have three centers, and want to red-shirt one, I should be able to do so, and have the game generate a walk-on scrub to fill that roster slot. Similarly, if someone gets injured, I shouldn’t have to un-redshirt someone to fill that roster spot.

One of these days a text sim is going to finally implement a loose roster algorithm, where if I have 11 players still standing (for an American football sim), the game won't crash. I'm sure it's difficult to code up, but we really need extra fallback logic for "I've tried to place 11 guys on the field but have 2 slots that weren't filled from the depth chart, so I'm just going to find 2 semi-appropriate guys to put on the field in their places and drop a note in the PBP to let the user know I had to do it".

Basketball sims handle this, but they are a bit better set up by doing depth charts as a simple ordering of the players (and FBCB only has issues when the number of available players drops below 5, which should probably be a forfeit or something instead of a crash). But it seems like football sims could do the same with an extra layer of failsafe logic.

It's really frustrating in a football sim to, say, not carry a FB on the roster at all, and instead wanting a RB or TE (or DE or OT) to fill that spot in the formation if I decide to play a formation that needs someone at the "FB" role. Or to not be able to play a "tackle elligible" formation at the goal line where I know my OT has decent hands (something else that should be displayed to me...)

And one of these days I'll stop writing utilities and put my money where my mouth is and do something about all my sim gripes (not that I really have time to do so, just a pipe dream...)

[Icy]

Good list Skydog, awesomne work compilling it all.

Originally Posted by gstelmack

And one of these days I'll stop writing utilities and put my money where my mouth is and do something about all my sim gripes (not that I really have time to do so, just a pipe dream...)

Where can i preorder?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Icy

Where can i preorder?

As I said, no time. The amazing thing about the utilities I write is that I only spend about 4-6 hours a week on them (maybe 10 on a busy week).

Besides, if I worked on a football game, mine would concentrate on gameday coaching, as opposed to long mult-season careers like existing sims. Emphasis would be on writing football player AI that reacts realistically, designing plays, and calling them at the right times. I'd love to write a football sim where you can set up the CB by running hitch routes, then finally go long and leave him in the dust. Confuse the QB by disguising defenses. Have the perfect play called and some player screws it up. Let receivers read the coverage and decide what route to run, and have long-time QBs and WRs recognize each other's reads.

In other words, I'd be targeting Maximum Football and Madden far more than FOF or BBCF or their ilk. I'd write a coaching sim, not a GM sim.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

As I said, no time. The amazing thing about the utilities I write is that I only spend about 4-6 hours a week on them (maybe 10 on a busy week).

Besides, if I worked on a football game, mine would concentrate on gameday coaching, as opposed to long mult-season careers like existing sims. Emphasis would be on writing football player AI that reacts realistically, designing plays, and calling them at the right times. I'd love to write a football sim where you can set up the CB by running hitch routes, then finally go long and leave him in the dust. Confuse the QB by disguising defenses. Have the perfect play called and some player screws it up. Let receivers read the coverage and decide what route to run, and have long-time QBs and WRs recognize each other's reads.

In other words, I'd be targeting Maximum Football and Madden far more than FOF or BBCF or their ilk. I'd write a coaching sim, not a GM sim.

Where do I sign up for this? Get your arse in gear and write it as soon as possible.

[Ajaxab]

So I finally sit down to consider actually gameplanning with the game (I'd only been simming to this point) and realize that this aspect of the game is really tedious. To go through each and every option in the gameplanning and play selection screens and put in a number requires more patience than I have. This makes multiplayer considerably less attractive to me. I am really reluctant about having to spend upwards of two or three hours coming up with a gameplan two or three times a week. I suppose one can craft a basic scheme one tweaks for every game, but even this is a chore relative to FOF's gameplanning.

For those of you who have the game are you actually setting up gameplans without taking time off from work, school and family to do so? The gameplan design just seems unwieldy to me. Thoughts?

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

So I finally sit down to consider actually gameplanning with the game (I'd only been simming to this point) and realize that this aspect of the game is really tedious. To go through each and every option in the gameplanning and play selection screens and put in a number requires more patience than I have. This makes multiplayer considerably less attractive to me. I am really reluctant about having to spend upwards of two or three hours coming up with a gameplan two or three times a week. I suppose one can craft a basic scheme one tweaks for every game, but even this is a chore relative to FOF's gameplanning.

For those of you who have the game are you actually setting up gameplans without taking time off from work, school and family to do so? The gameplan design just seems unwieldy to me. Thoughts?

It's time comsuming, but i see it pretty close to FOF gameplanning, with different situations related to score, field position and time left. It takes time to create a gameplan from zero, but once you have done it, you don't need to change a lot for every game, maybe from season to season if you recruit a different QB etc.

I whish a few players would release some basic gameplans for the others to import, like basic west coast, smash mouth etc. I'll try to do some, it's not that we should be afraid of multiplayer gm's copying our tactics, as those would be just basic ones, that everybody would tweak for their players or likings.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'd be glad to release my Randy/Sedrick high flying offensive gameplan if anyone wants it. Just don't put a fragile QB back there

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'd be glad to release my Randy/Sedrick high flying offensive gameplan if anyone wants it. Just don't put a fragile QB back there

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed your dynasty, I lolled

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed your dynasty, I lolled

I plan on continuing it with the new class (despite my QB troubles) once 1.1 is out.

By the way, thanks for the compliment

[jbmagic]

Arlie Updated news for 1.1

Because of the wide disparity in talent (ie, an awful Akron team can play a stacked USC or Texas team), you need the engine to allow a team like Akron to get a few first downs, score a few points and be aleast able to prevent a 80-0 romp. On the same token, the engine needs to be robust enough to really use the play calling, performance on the field and other factors (coaching, injuries,...) to not have "random" winners in close games. I think the engine is close in this regard, but work is still needed in that lower teams with a good offensive player (ie, QB or RB) can be a little more competitive than they probably should be.

This is something I will look at as I go through the gamelogs for some of these PBP issues people have reported.

As a follow up, I am working on a way to import outside save games as "roster sets" to allow a new league to start with that existing roster as the initial players. I have it designed and should be able to fit it in to update 1.1. This will allow the people that put in the time to make the rosters with an editor a way to import that roster as a base for future careers. Now, there will be some rules in that the existing pstats.dat the league is created off will need to match the save from a conference, team and team # standpoint. But, I don't think too many people have been changing the IDs on each team so this shouldn't be a big issue. Just something to keep in mind when editing or modding.

Finally, I have been simming weeks and going through individual gamelogs looking for issues and found many that have been reported (plus some that haven't been). A lot of it is display based, but there are some things that need to be cleaned up. This isn't a fun or quick process, but it needs to be done and it's one of the reasons this update is taking a little longer. So, I'm trying to throw in some additional fixes and features (like the save import) since I have the time while working on this.

Again, I appreciate the patience and I will continue to provide updates in this thread as I go along. I really want to try and get as many issues resolved as possible, so keep with the great PMs and ideas in the emails you guys have sent as well. I found an issue with the overall grade in certain instances for top programs thanks to a user email this weekend. So, I am reading them and they do help.

[MikeVick7]

So now that I'm in a bit of a FM funk and pondering purchasing the game, where is everyone with it? Still playing it regularly? Waiting on the new patch? I'm getting the sense it's the latter.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

So now that I'm in a bit of a FM funk and pondering purchasing the game, where is everyone with it? Still playing it regularly? Waiting on the new patch? I'm getting the sense it's the latter.

I think most are waiting on 1.1

[BradS]

Does anyone here know where the (individual players) pass coverage ratings apply. For example, which LB covers the Halfback. Which LB has coverage on the Fullback. Typically the SS is responsible for the Tight End, but where is his coverage responsibilities in Trips or Quads formations. I wonder if these coverage aspects are even modeled in BBCF.

[TazFTW]

Arlie has posted an initial feature list for 1.5

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum...ad.php?t=18097

7. Improving the recruit pitch process - Now, you will get an email after you scout a recruit that gives some additional insight on his pitch. It's still going to be handled the same (ie, you only get 1 chance to get the bonus - no partial credit). But, now atleast you have more information to work with. It also adds another reason to scout players early.

8. Added inseason player development. Players will now develop during the season and you can check this on the roster (the checkbox for changes). development happens every few weeks and you will see certain skills reflect that. A combination of potential, coaching, work ethic and playing time play the biggest role here.

8. Added inseason recruiting options. You get emails every week that has a home game from up to three potential recruits that would like to visit. You can only choose one and if you win, the player’s interest may go up. If you lose, it may go down.

Interest levels also get updated every 4-5 weeks. Play of underclassmen, team performance, inseason visits, prestige and other factors play a factor in a recruit's decision. Also, when a player visits, you automatically get the full color scale view for that player’s interest (even if you have the lower scouting service). That, combined with players that visit getting shaded yellow, will help you track who has visited. AI will handle this for you if you select AI to handle recruiting.

I like seeing some inseason recruiting being added.

[Toddzilla]

Um.....Fixing the polls? Hello?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Um.....Fixing the polls? Hello?

Arlie's list says he's fixing the polls. There's more to the list than the piece TazFTW posted.

[wbatl1]

The full list has around 15 items and actually looks pretty good. It probably will get me back into the game for at least a little while.

[MizzouRah]

I hope some of you post thoughts when the patch comes out. I'm deep into my TCY career right and don't want to get confused.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'll be posting thoughts when the patch comes out, and might resume my old BBCF Dynasty (or if the patch isn't compatible, start a new one.)

[Toddzilla]

w00t!

I've been waiting for a significant fix for this game, and I hope the next update is a big step toward improving it - I'll certainly jump back in and my fingers are crossed for improved poll logic.

[TazFTW]

Two more features of the upcoming patch

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum...ad.php?t=18250

In additions to the features mentioned in the top thread, there will be two additional items:

1. Hotkey support. You can now use ‘ and / to move up and down most grids. Also, if you mouse over a button, it may tell you a hotkey you can use instead. The ‘Yes’/’No’ message box has this as do some of the offseason screens.

2. Conference movement. This is the *secret* feature. You can set it up in the game options – the choices are None, Low, Average, High. The basic algorithm is that the game goes through at the start of each offseason and checks to see if any teams should be swapped. All conferences are broken up into 4 layers – GDCS (top 8), tier 1, tier 2 and independents. Movement occurs between each grouping and there’s always a “swapping” of teams. For instance, in my testing, I had Utah replace Stanford in the Pac 10 after three seasons. Stanford then went to Utah’s conference and took its place. There’s also some region protection meaning a team in the West can only go to the Midlands and West, Midlands can go West, Midlands and Midwest, Midwest can go Midlands and Midwest, SE can go SE and AE, AE can go AE and SE. I had to setup a couple regions for each team otherwise you could hit situations where movement was deadlocked because of regions. However, you shouldn’t see teams like Fresno State going into the SEC.

Also, the game will now use the "Prestige" field in the conference table in the pstats.dat file. So, if people wish to reorganize the conference movement and change the 1-4 levels, you will have the ability to do so.

I will also be setting up the game for an open BETA at the end of this week. This will give current users the ability to try out some of the new additions and provide some feedback before version 1.50 goes out. All old saves will work with this version and you can even use conference movement mid-season. Just bear in mind that it will start at "None" for new games and existing saves - but you can change it in the game options screen.

[Toddzilla]

Hotkey support! I'm happy, and I'm sure SkyDog is too...

[Arles]

The open beta is up:

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum...ad.php?t=18311

[Galaril]

These are a few things I have mentioned on the BBCF board but never got a reply from Arlie on any of them. They are the only small nit picky things I like to see resolved or at least responded to I post it here sinceI know Arlie comes on here often.

1.This relates to the transfer period. I noticed that the durability rating for the players is not available, you have to go to the team roster and than go to the attributes. That is going to three screens to get something that could be on the transfer screen.
It would be great to get the all the players Durability rating on the front screen when looking at players transferring

2.Here is one suggestion for the pregame schedule screen. I mean the "weeks schedule of games screen" where you select preview and play the game you want. In the post season or bowl games time period how about adding the location of the game under the teams. I know that modders who make the custom bowl game logos to the real world bowls this might involve to get the Cotton Bowl in Dallas,TX. It would be good to know where each bowl game is being played even the default fictional bowl games. So if e.g.the Grape Bowl is one the bowls where is it Idaho or San Fran, California etc? This can be important for some teams. If a bowl game is in Idaho and Idaho St. is in the Bowl it could be ahome game type game for them. They would get the home field advantage as well. Even if a team is not from that city but say e.g. a bowl in Utah with Colorado vs North Carolina, Colrado would get a smaller than the usual full home field advantage since they are playing close to home and their fans can more easily travel to their.

3.As I mentioned before the service academies e.g. Air force, Navy and Army should be restricted from players going into the draft early since they all have 4 or 8 year commitments and can't get out of them. I just had two players granted the Heisman winner from the previous season and a 4.5 DT but still two early guys heading to the draft in one year from Air Force? See below I have pasted the early draft list.
Also, I thinking the running wishbone needs to be looked at it seems no matter what I do in game planning my QB throws the ball 60% 75% of the time and runs rarely in the wishbone though he has high runnning 85 and high instincts 77. I think the problem with the wishbone is that the QB doesn't have enough keepers in the wishbone. Same thing with the wingback. It feels like the wishbone is the same as the balanced attack in the game engine.

4. I also, want to see a way to choose the walkons or the scholarship players after the final week of recruiting when the AI just fills your spots. So for example I have three scholarships left after the last week of recruiting but don't get any of the players I offered scholarships too. It seems the ai randomly selects players to take those scholarships or add players to my roster if no scholarships are available. So if I am trying to get a center, Wide reciever and /or a safety but don't get any of those players the AI should try to get a player that matches those needs if albeit a lesser recruit level. They should not be giving away scholarships e.g. to a punter a fourth string fullback and a kicker .

5.The option system ran more like a real option in the game engine with teams running the option passing 10 times and running 60 times. I never get that. I always see the AI passing 45 times and running 25 times or something like that.

6. A quick note durability ratings on players cards and the actual shown on the roster screens or recruiting,transfers screens are not the same. I am assuming this is in correct? I wonder if this is the only rating that isn't universally applied on the various screens.

[twothree]

Originally Posted by Arles

The open beta is up:

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum...ad.php?t=18311

And, the 1.5 patch is now available.

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum...ad.php?t=18662

[jbmagic]

From Arlie

I will be working on updating the demo and getting a full install up by the weekend. For now, anyone interested in the game can download the full install and then run the 1.50 update.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Galaril

3.As I mentioned before the service academies e.g. Air force, Navy and Army should be restricted from players going into the draft early since they all have 4 or 8 year commitments and can't get out of them. I just had two players granted the Heisman winner from the previous season and a 4.5 DT but still two early guys heading to the draft in one year from Air Force?

I know its not football, but David Robinson was let go early from his commitment to the Navy to play professional basketball. So there *is* a precedent.

[QuikSand]

So, for some reason I have fired this up again, afrter hearing that the latest patch had made the game far better. I'm doing my best to look past some of the quirks that remain... but I still get the overall feel that a lot of the game just isn't built for a fairly small school (I'm playing in the MAC, and getting a variety of weird things that I think are related).

[QuikSand]

cross-posted from the GDS forums, it seems there's more traffic here...

- - -

After hearing about the new patching, and watching a little college football of late, I'm giving this game another run.

I am (prehaps regrettably) playing as a small conference team from the MAC, starting with a prestige rating of 40, which is basically what I prefer.


Anyway... I'm having two issues of frustration, and wondering if anyone here can either confirm or correct my impressions. I may have raised these some time ago when I first purchased the game, but it seems both are unresolved, or are at least still baffling to me.


#1 -- I don't know what moves the team prestige, or how that is calculated, but intuitively, I'd expect that a season exceeding reasonable expectations would tend to bring prestig upward, at whatever rate. My BGSU team ran the table in-conference, won the conference championship game in a blow out, and lost a close game to Iowa in the Motor City Bowl -- by pretty much any account, a very solid season for a MAC team, I would think. However, my team's prestige dropped after that year... admittedly it was by a smaller increment than it droped the preceding 6-6 season (so it seems at least partially rational) but I have trouble imaging what I'd need to do to get my 40 prestige team out of that rut if a conference title and 10-4 season isn't enough to even move us slightly upward.


#2 -- I am sensing that the prestige number is tied to multiple things, which may not make sense. Again with my BGSU team -- after the 10-4 conference championship season, my roster was still littered with players who were upset about how the team wasn't doing well. My best guess is that this in-game function is governed by the prestige rating, rather than whatever sort of "recent success" measure might seem to make more sense. Honestly, my team goes 8-0 in its conference and wins the conf title easily, and my team is full of guys moping around because the team isn't winning games? I don't see how I can ever end up with a team full of anything but malcontents at this rate.


Any insight would be welcome. I've always had a general sense that playing as a smaller conference team was an imperfect fit in this game. I'm wondering if there are any settings or adjustments I might be able to make to better accomodate the kind of reaction that I'm looking for, in game, to the kind of successes that a team like this ought to be shooting for.

[QuikSand]

Dola... looks like I was ringing this exact same bell back last year at this time, while we were awaiting patch 1.04 or thereabouts. So it goes.

[st.cronin]

I have not seen anything like problem #2, although I don't think it will be a long term problem - a player's happiness is, I think, based partly on how well the school meets his needs, in terms of recruiting. So if you keep recruiting players who value a team's prestige, you will see that problem persist. But if you recruit players who want something else, you will be fine.

I don't know how to explain prestige movement in the game.

[SFL Cat]

Simulating the rise and fall of school prestige is a dicey affair...just look at Rutgers (rise) and Nebraska (fall).