EA Sport "NFL HEAD COACH"

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

I'm not saying its not realistic - yeah in an hour or half hour block you can probably only sit down and call 3 GMs and talk about trades or call 3 agents about signing their players...and if coaching the virtual Detroit Lions was my real job that would be fine but I despise the fact that I had to play 9 real hours of game play to get to one preseason game.

My gripe is that they made things realistic that are tedious and then abandonded reality in the things that would have been fun. 30 seconds to make a trade during someone else's pick in the draft? Why not give me 5-15 minutes there to work the phones and make trades and why can I only try to make like three trades during the draft? Do real NFL GMs contact fewer than three other teams the entire draft day? To me the day to day stuff is just a tedious click fest - that's great that you can only add two plays to the playbook in a half hour - but doing it that way means hundreds of more clicks to get in and out of that screen over and over again.

Like I said earlier, the idea is great and the execution was terrible. I think the only reason people are not up in arms about this is because of the idea of a 3D football management sim is such a sexy one that some people are willing to overlook the design flaws because they want it so bad. You tell me though, if you played Total College Basketball and I made you only able to call 3 recruits per session in the day and took away the automatic weekly call list, made you click on every individual player to learn anything about him as opposed to giving you the ability to view stats and ratings for the entire team at a glance and subjected you to pointless meetings with the AD where he tells you for the third week in a row that you need to recruit a power forward or with your coaching staff flip flopping on the same two players every week would you find those things acceptable or would you be ripping it as a tedious click fest? I'm not ripping on anyone who likes it - if you're satisfied with Head Coach then good for you - I liked the idea and wanted it very much to be that perfect version of what some of us always hoped Front Page Sports would evolve into and to me it was just designed so poorly that its often times more frustrating than fun.

Fair points. I think I need to break down and pick this up to get a 1st hand experience before I make anymore arguments on this subject .

[Hurst2112]

need some help...

what is the settings download that was posted?

is there a fix (patch) that anybody has created for the quarter lengths yet?

Gonna dig into it tonight and want to start where everybody else is at.

thanks.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

to me it was just designed so poorly that its often times more frustrating than fun.

I find this to be a very true statement. Initially, I found the game to be very tedious work (in some facets I still do; after the novelty of practices has worn off, I wish I could just sim through them; unfortunately I can't since I won't be able to increase the players' abilities or work on plays).

Anyhow, after getting used to what I need to do as well as knowing my way around the UI, I found that the poor design is much like a paper cut. Extremely annoying at first, but you get used to it after a while.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

need some help...

what is the settings download that was posted?

is there a fix (patch) that anybody has created for the quarter lengths yet?

Gonna dig into it tonight and want to start where everybody else is at.

thanks.

Lazy today? Just go one page back and look for a post from Cwilloughby that addresses the qtr lengths and other issues.

[Hurst2112]

yeah, i AM!!!!!!

I had some clever comeback but touche. I deserved to be called out.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

didn't check to see if anybody posted this.

I just went to Best Buy this morning and paid, with tax...31.64.

Not bad, not bad.

I did. Good price. regular price is 39.99

[Hurst2112]

I was so close to buying it last night online.

Talked to a kid at the register about the game. Plugged FOF to him as well. He seemed interested in sports sims. Anything for the sake of 1 more geek!

[SegRat]

I am finally getting some play time with this game. I really like it so far. Very happy the girlfriend is back at home.

[Eaglesfan27]

Spending time with the wife today, but I look forward to trying out the new version tomorrow, Cwill. Thanks again for your continued work on this

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

yeah, i AM!!!!!!

I had some clever comeback but touche. I deserved to be called out.

Yeah, I was just giving you crap anyways.

[Hurst2112]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Yeah, I was just giving you crap anyways.

well deserved my man. I would have called out a lesser form as well. haha

[RedKingGold]

Does the poor design surprise anyone who knows that Joe Stallings name was attached to the project?

[jbmagic]

Wow

Saw this on maddennation forum.

Bad news on sims stats.

While browsing the EA Forums. I came across a post of

---------------
Simmed the season. Willis McGahee had 3500 yards on over 800 carries
Posted:Jun 26, 2006 3:11 AM

(what can I say, I like hitting the playoffs and taking over from there. Season is LONG)

Oh, and Lamont Jordan had 2295 (not unheard of) on 737 carries (IS unheard of)


Not alot of replies yet to it but a follow up was one person saying Kevin Jones had 1500yds by week 8.

If this is true, I don't know what to say, they never fixed or even REALIZED the sim engine fatigue bug that was in Madden 2006

[AgustusM]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Wow

Saw this on maddennation forum.

Bad news on sims stats.

yeah I saw that too and was a little concerned - so I checked my league leaders and in week 2 there are a dozen RB's averaging 40 carries a game!

[DaddyTorgo]

ding. once again Gary wins!

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by AgustusM

yeah I saw that too and was a little concerned - so I checked my league leaders and in week 2 there are a dozen RB's averaging 40 carries a game!

Perhaps another slider tweak is in order?

Then again, didn't we all enter into this know that stats like this were going to be a problem? I think it was unrealistic to expect FOF-like reliable and consistency. If they are accurate, it's just a bonus.

Personally, I never expected anything more out of this than a role-playing game, but YMMV.

[Super Ugly]

Dang, every time I go to buy this game, another thing like this comes along and tells me to put the credit card away.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Perhaps another slider tweak is in order?

Then again, didn't we all enter into this know that stats like this were going to be a problem? I think it was unrealistic to expect FOF-like reliable and consistency. If they are accurate, it's just a bonus.

Personally, I never expected anything more out of this than a role-playing game, but YMMV.

Sliders tweaks has no affect on sim stats.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Sliders tweaks has no affect on sim stats.

/agree

[stevew]

Originally Posted by AgustusM

yeah I saw that too and was a little concerned - so I checked my league leaders and in week 2 there are a dozen RB's averaging 40 carries a game!

No real difference than multiplayer FOF though.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by stevew

No real difference than multiplayer FOF though.

What are you talking about?

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Then again, didn't we all enter into this know that stats like this were going to be a problem? I think it was unrealistic to expect FOF-like reliable and consistency. If they are accurate, it's just a bonus.

Personally, I never expected anything more out of this than a role-playing game, but YMMV.

I don't think anyone expected FOF-like stats but its too much to expect them to be in the same zip code let alone ballpark as realistic NFL stats? This wasn't supposed to be Madden for the non joystick jockey crowd.

If you don't mind, what do you expect the point of the role playing game to be? If you enjoy the game as what it is that's cool - I'm just curious as to why the free pass when something so basic to the game (stats) are apparently horrendous? As a developer I'm curious about this - my upcoming game, Total Pro Golf, is a role-playing type game - will it be ok if people are winning tournaments with scores of -40 or something?

[jbmagic]

Looks like the backup players not getting in much.

That why the sims stats are way off again like in Madden 2006.

[quote]
I am simming a few seasons now to see how things are.

I just simmed the season I was in. Stopped on 01/01/07.
I will post the pics, its easier. You tell me.

1. http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/2884/wtf3ua.jpg
2. http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/7973/wtf22bp.jpg
3. http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/5858/wtf30zz.jpg
4. http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/7986/wtf46eh.jpg
5. http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5518/wtf50av.jpg


Going through some other teams.

Redskin:
Portis 493att 1750yds
Cooley 74att 218yds
Betts 17att 37yds

[Maple Leafs]

That's awful.

[jbmagic]

New utility you have to mark gamelogs and to get gamelogs save you have to do this.

It looks like you have to create a directory under your My Documents/NFL Head Coach directory called "Stats", and then another sub-directory under Stats called "Career0" (or whatever career number you are on)...

I did that, and the next game I had a txt log file....

I also notice there a Fatigue and Injuries box you can mark and unmark too on the utility. I am not sure how that will affect games you play out.

[cwilloughby]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

New utility you have to mark gamelogs and to get gamelogs save you have to do this.




I also notice there a Fatigue and Injuries box you can mark and unmark too on the utility. I am not sure how that will affect games you play out.

You shouldn't have to create the folders, the game should create them automatically.

Also, I added those other checkboxes because I found the data fields. They are untested, but should work fine.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by dbd1963

Is anyone else having a problem with being able to cancel the instructions to the QB? This may somehow be related to my crazy computer.

I have had an injury -- they are hard to see and I just happened to notice Fred Thomas writhing on the ground. Then I saw a small drop down menu, in the same spot as the place you click to hike the ball. It listed Fred Thomas' name and then said he had a rib injury for 7P. I took that to mean 7 periods, but maybe it's 7 days probable or something because he was right back in the game.

The 7p means 7 plays. Found that out in my last game.

[MizzouRah]

Well, good work on the utility cwill!! If we can change the skill level to all pro, I think we'll be in business. Definitly makes no sense why EA didn't allow any of these settings to be changed from within the game.

Considering simmed stats were ok in Madden maybe cwill has something up his sleeve to fix that as well - maybe a sub in/sub out setting somewhere?

[stevew]

Go Redskin!

[Raiders Army]

cwilloughby is the man.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Well, good work on the utility cwill!! If we can change the skill level to all pro, I think we'll be in business. Definitly makes no sense why EA didn't allow any of these settings to be changed from within the game.

Considering simmed stats were ok in Madden maybe cwill has something up his sleeve to fix that as well - maybe a sub in/sub out setting somewhere?

The sim stats for Madden 2006 was not ok because of the lack of fatigue bug for sim games.

As you can see above example I posted, the same fatigue bug is in EA Head Coach too. That why the backups not playing much on sim games and its making the sims stats not realistic.

I agree if Cwill can do something to affect the sim stats that will be awesome.

[cwilloughby]

It's that time of the night again, where I post a new version of this bad boy.

Here is the latest and greatest (0.3).

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.
-Added tooltips to the sliders for determining the value.
-Removed the Injuries checkbox.
-Removed the Fatigue checkbox.

The biggest change in this version is the addition of the difficulty drop-down. I already had it linked up in a prior build, but had yet to test it. Was able to test it tonight, and it worked like a charm, the change was reflected in the logs.

As always, this is an ALPHA 3rd party application so back-up your stuff!

Also, any and all feedback/suggestions/requests are welcome here. This application belongs to the community.

Now I'm off to actually get some actual time in with the game for the first time.

BTW, should I create new posts when I release a new version of this to keep people informed?

Enjoy!
Chris W.

[jbmagic]

New Utility out

It's that time of the night again, where I post a new version of this bad boy.

Here is the latest and greatest (0.3).

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.
-Added tooltips to the sliders for determining the value.
-Removed the Injuries checkbox.
-Removed the Fatigue checkbox.

The biggest change in this version is the addition of the difficulty drop-down. I already had it linked up in a prior build, but had yet to test it. Was able to test it tonight, and it worked like a charm, the change was reflected in the logs.

As always, this is an ALPHA 3rd party application so back-up your stuff!

Also, any and all feedback/suggestions/requests are welcome here. This application belongs to the community.

Now I'm off to actually get some actual time in with the game for the first time.

Enjoy!
Chris W.

[cwilloughby]

LOL!

A side note is that I removed the fatigue and injury sliders because they were not working.

As for the simmed stats, that may be beyond my control, but I am certainly up for the challenge. I can put this at the top of my list for this weekend .

[jbmagic]

cwill thanks for the great utility

You too quick for me. lol

[cwilloughby]

:P

Rest assured that I will always double-post the change logs. Although my post count may not reflect it, the FOFC is like a second home to me. I would never leave you guys in the dark.

[MizzouRah]

He beat you jb.

cwill.. any plans on seeing whether there is a way to change the difficulty level? Getting it to play on All Pro would be great!

Thanks again!!

Oh, and keeping it in this thread is fine.

[Antmeister]

Classic jbmagic...

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by cwilloughby

It's that time of the night again, where I post a new version of this bad boy.

Here is the latest and greatest (0.3).

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.
-Added tooltips to the sliders for determining the value.
-Removed the Injuries checkbox.
-Removed the Fatigue checkbox.

The biggest change in this version is the addition of the difficulty drop-down. I already had it linked up in a prior build, but had yet to test it. Was able to test it tonight, and it worked like a charm, the change was reflected in the logs.

As always, this is an ALPHA 3rd party application so back-up your stuff!

Also, any and all feedback/suggestions/requests are welcome here. This application belongs to the community.

Now I'm off to actually get some actual time in with the game for the first time.

BTW, should I create new posts when I release a new version of this to keep people informed?

Enjoy!
Chris W.

Please keep us informed with new posts. Thanks again for continuing to improve this utility.

[cwilloughby]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

He beat you jb.

cwill.. any plans on seeing whether there is a way to change the difficulty level? Getting it to play on All Pro would be great!

Thanks again!!

Oh, and keeping it in this thread is fine.

Umm.... see change log above.

It's in there buddy!

[muns]

Thanks Cwill, much apperciated, and keep up that great work

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by cwilloughby

Umm.... see change log above.

It's in there buddy!

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.

You are THE man!!

Thanks!!!!! It's been a LONG 12 hour Six Flags day with the kids.

[jbmagic]

I get a runtime error when I load an existing career.

It didnt do that in version .1 or .2 version.

Do we have to start over to use version .3?

thanks

[cwilloughby]

You shouldn't get that.

Can you email me your career at cwilloughby - gmail - com?

Thanks!

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by cwilloughby

You shouldn't get that.

Can you email me your career at cwilloughby - gmail - com?

Thanks!

ok thanks

Sending now

Also others at football-freak forum is getting same error

[cwilloughby]

NM JB, for whatever reason a bug crept in just before release. Give me a few minutes and I'll post a new version.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by cwilloughby

NM JB, for whatever reason a bug crept in just before release. Give me a few minutes and I'll post a new version.

Ok thanks

[AgustusM]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

my upcoming game, Total Pro Golf, is a role-playing type game - will it be ok if people are winning tournaments with scores of -40 or something?

NO - I want a "realistic" golf game with my normal scores in the 100's!

[heybrad]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

New Utility out

You're like Carvelli's sidekick from Welcome Back Kotter.

"The man said, a new utility is out!"

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by AgustusM

NO - I want a "realistic" golf game with my normal scores in the 100's!

No, that will be in Maximum Golf.