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.

Game: NCAA Football 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 95 - View All

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Member Comments

# 521 DrUrsus @ 07/23/08 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMT


	Yep.. if you read my introduction when I first joined the board I was straight up front saying that I'm not here to spin things or try to sell you a game. I don't work in PR, I don't work in marketing. I'm a game designer, and I want to provide answers and insight and collect feedback from the game for how we can make it better for our hardcore gamer audience. As much as we'd love to design the game 100% hardcore, that just isn't feasible. We have to make a game for a whole spectrum of people that may decide to purchase it.

That's very understandable, and I think that is where sliders help. In the past EA used to have a Arcade vs Simulation toggle for their games, most recently the NHL series. I also think that is a good thing to help with the masses vs hardcore sports fan issue.
I am excited about the Madden feature that will try to tailor the game to your strengths/weaknesses. I think that may be the future of "sliders" I am sure it will take a while to perfect, but it is probably a step in the right direction if it can be done correctly. I have always been way too good at passing and not good enough at running. Sliders have helped with this, but this new feature may really be cool. Thanks for your input, OMT. I don't want to come off as negative, I am just giving some constructive criticism. This game is so close to being awesome if some of these gameplay issues can be patched.

# 522 Phobia @ 07/23/08 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by callmetaternuts


	Adam, Both AA and I made some posts 2-3 pages back concerning the 2nd patch and the defense, can you address any of that?

Yea I think the biggest game play problem across the boards, is the Defense playing lower than the offense. This being adressed would help greatly. I mean the offense will still have all the new juke moves and break ankle type stuff. We just want the D to play tighter and the D-line to play like it should.

# 523 mdgoalie37 @ 07/23/08 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMT


	As I said, I'm not a gameplay guy. I'm a features guy. And your post about sliders not helping pass rush.... I asked if fixing the slider bug will help and you said no because there is a bug in sliders. Ummmm....

I would like to see some major changes on the defensive side, well all 3 sides really, many have been mentioned here so I won't get into the specifics. However I think most of these changes won't come via a patch as they will need to be coded into the 'game philosophy', so to speak. Basically what I mean is neutering the defense in order to achieve the 'wide open gameplay.'

Anyway the sliders are part of the game now, and they don't work correctly or in some cases at all. It's almost as if you selected a punt, but the kicker didn't kick it and just ran around in circles (yes, this is an extreme example but I think you catch my snowdrift). I mean that would be seen as a major bug, as it's a play that just doesn't work (esp if it was all punt formations). The sliders are are a feature in the menus that just doesn't do what it's intended to do. If they worked, at least we would be able to make those adjustments and in turn tune the game ourselves.

It's a shame because I think if you took 08, fixed the INTs, toned down the superman LBs a bit, then gave us the ball carrier moves, the QB throw 'feel' along with the player models and graphics of 09 you have a great game. I feel like it's in there now, it just needs to be dragged out.

# 524 AuburnAlumni @ 07/23/08 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMT


	As I said, I'm not a gameplay guy. I'm a features guy. And your post about sliders not helping pass rush.... I asked if fixing the slider bug will help and you said no because there is a bug in sliders. Ummmm....

Read more closely.

The slider bug right now is that Human sliders appear to effect BOTH the Human AND CPU attributes.

So.... with that in mind.

If I have Human Sliders set with a Break Block of 100 and a Pass Block of 0, you would think that my defensive line AND the cpu defensive line would be blowing up the O line, busting through every play, and killing the QBs at that extreme of a setting.

They dont.

So either the sliders are reversed or its a placebo effect and those two sliders don't work at all. You tell me.

If they do work, and simply effect BOTH sides, then my statement still holds true. That Break Block at 100 and Pass Block at 0 doesn't help any pass rush.

# 525 Icebergz @ 07/23/08 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMT


	Well, I can think of two former Division 1 quarterbacks and a former highschool football coach that work in our gameplay department. EDIT: and another guy who played in the CFL

Then I would like to think that if you shared AA's last comments about high rated DL players going against low rated OL players, they would agree 100% and hopefully address this glaring issue in the patch.

# 526 rudyjuly2 @ 07/23/08 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrUrsus


	rudyjuly, Don't you think that the kickoff return team always gets to far up the field, even for college football. I am hardly ever stopped anywhere near the 20 yard line. The CPU usually makes it to at least the 30 on me, and I usually make it to the 40. I would have to handicap myself (which I HATE to do in videogames, I hate house rules and such) and not use the sprint button at all and I still think I would make the 25 at least every time. The problem I see on AA and Heisman is that the blockers stonewall or knock down the defense. Do you see that (serious question) as well? What's everyone else seeing?

I actually think that the cpu slider for kickoff length might actually work separate from the human. I have it set at 100 for cpu. I do agree that kick returns come out a little too far but we can't forget that the NCAA just recently moved the kickoffs to the 30 and we should expect better field position than the NFL because the kickers suck.

This link (http://cfbstats.com/blog/2007/08/17/kickoff/) shows some stats from kickoffs from the 30 yard line the year before the rule change. The average kicked landed at the 9 yard line with the average starting drive at the 32. I think that is more than people realize. Chris Fowler predicted before last year that the average starting point would be between the 32 and 35 yard line (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/previe...ris&id=2997281).

Punt returns are awful though and I just don't use turbo as a house rule. It sucks but not much else I can do. I do think they are a LOT better on Heisman though. Maybe I should bump up the difficulty for returns only. On punt block formations nobody even tries to run down the field to tackle you. That is really bad.

# 527 Phobia @ 07/23/08 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuburnAlumni


	Read more closely. The slider bug right now is that Human sliders appear to effect BOTH the Human AND CPU attributes. So.... with that in mind. If I have Human Sliders set with a Break Block of 100 and a Pass Block of 0, you would think that my defensive line AND the cpu defensive line would be blowing up the O line, busting through every play, and killing the QBs at that extreme of a setting. They dont. So either the sliders are reversed or its a placebo effect and those two sliders don't work at all. You tell me. If they do work, and simply effect BOTH sides, then my statement still holds true. That Break Block at 100 and Pass Block at 0 doesn't help any pass rush.

agreed

# 528 callmetaternuts @ 07/23/08 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuburnAlumni


	Read more closely. The slider bug right now is that Human sliders appear to effect BOTH the Human AND CPU attributes. So.... with that in mind. If I have Human Sliders set with a Break Block of 100 and a Pass Block of 0, you would think that my defensive line AND the cpu defensive line would be blowing up the O line, busting through every play, and killing the QBs at that extreme of a setting. They dont. So either the sliders are reversed or its a placebo effect and those two sliders don't work at all. You tell me. If they do work, and simply effect BOTH sides, then my statement still holds true. That Break Block at 100 and Pass Block at 0 doesn't help any pass rush.

To add to this, for Adam's sake, AA is saying we know the sliders are broken, that right now the HUM sliders affect the HUM and CPU side. So right now with Break Block at 100 (maxed out) and Pass Block at 0 (maxed out), we still arent getting pressure.

So yes A) the sliders are broken (old news) but more importantly B) they do not have a HUGE impact on the game. Sliders are "tweaking", what we need is a revamp, overhaul, fix, correction, whatever you want to call it. We arent a notch or two away, we are a good distance away. So to answer your question, No, we dont feel that corrected and working sliders will remedy what we are seeing at this point (not trying to be a jerk, just trying to clarify thigns)

We nkow the hardcore crowd isnt the big market that is catered to, we have known that for awhile. But when we have guys from different forums (Bill Abner and his blog, AA, Pared, Countryboy, ODogg (where is he), rhombic, as well as all these other avid gamers) Spweing the same thing that the pass rush and defense isnt up to snuff, something has to be done.

If it were jsut me complaining, i get it, im one voice in a million, but it seems that this is the overwhelming view of the game right now from multiple people from multiple sources.

Im know we are laying it to you Adam, but you are the voice that we have to go back to EA and construe our thoughts. You make valid points, as do we, there are things we'd like to be fixed or corrected or updated. There are a few posts a fe wpages back that go into great detail on what we are looking at, and even what Ian was looking at.

# 529 rspencer86 @ 07/23/08 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMT


	As much as we'd love to design the game 100% hardcore, that just isn't feasible. We have to make a game for a whole spectrum of people that may decide to purchase it.

Adam, I believe that you could make the game appeal to both the hardcore gamers AND the casual gamers. The key is providing options for us hardcore players who want a simulation-style game.

One of the ways to do that is by making the sliders much, much more effective. I'm not talking about fixing the bug that makes the User sliders affect both the user and CPU. I'm talking about things like if I set my interceptions slider at 0, there should not be any interceptions at all. If I set it at 100, I should be picking off 10-12 passes a game. Same thing with penalty sliders. I understand that the casual gamer doesn't want a bunch of holding and facemask calls negating their huge runs and ruining their 72-0 beatdowns of the CPU. But when I set the penalty sliders all the way to 100, I should see a LOT of penalties. Having this kind of extreme range allows us, the users, to find a "happy medium," whether that is on the "arcade" side or "simulation" side.

Also, you guys should take a look at the slider options in other sports games. Frankly, games like NBA 2k8 can be made to play much better than they do from default because they offer so many different sliders to adjust. NBA 2k8 has sliders for almost everything: fatigue, screen success, and even very fine details like tendencies for throwing flashy passes and using triple-threat moves. Another great way to appeal more to us hardcore types is to give us the ability to fine tune many aspects of the game. Having the opportunity to (significantly) alter such things as QB aggressiveness (which could affect how often the CPU tries to "force" throws rather than perhaps just throwing the ball away), fatigue, injuries, etc. would really help those who want a more realistic game to be able to do that, without affecting the casual gamer.

The bottom line is, the dev team should really take a hard look at some ways to give the gamers more control over how the game plays. If we want the game to play a realistic, sim-style type of football, give us the options to do so. For those who don't, they will be fine with playing the game at default.

# 530 mwjr @ 07/23/08 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDofBA


	Exactly. I hope they don't turn it into a sackfest. A great DT should blow up the play but not necessarily get a sack everytime.

Nor should he blow the play up every time.

# 531 Phobia @ 07/23/08 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by callmetaternuts


	To add to this, for Adam's sake, AA is saying we know the sliders are broken, that right now the HUM sliders affect the HUM and CPU side. So right now with Break Block at 100 (maxed out) and Pass Block at 0 (maxed out), we still arent getting pressure. So yes A) the sliders are broken (old news) but more importantly B) they do not have a HUGE impact on the game. Sliders are "tweaking", what we need is a revamp, overhaul, fix, correction, whatever you want to call it. We arent a notch or two away, we are a good distance away. So to answer your question, No, we dont feel that corrected and working sliders will remedy what we are seeing at this point (not trying to be a jerk, just trying to clarify thigns) We nkow the hardcore crowd isnt the big market that is catered to, we have known that for awhile. But when we have guys from different forums (Bill Abner and his blog, AA, Pared, Countryboy, ODogg (where is he), rhombic, as well as all these other avid gamers) Spweing the same thing that the pass rush and defense isnt up to snuff, something has to be done. If it were jsut me complaining, i get it, im one voice in a million, but it seems that this is the overwhelming view of the game right now from multiple people from multiple sources. Im know we are laying it to you Adam, but you are the voice that we have to go back to EA and construe our thoughts. You make valid points, as do we, there are things we'd like to be fixed or corrected or updated. There are a few posts a fe wpages back that go into great detail on what we are looking at, and even what Ian was looking at.

This issue with the D-line not getting any pressure is causing problems across the entire gameplay. The sliders along are not enough to fix this glaring issue. I sure hope Adam can help us with this.

# 532 mwjr @ 07/23/08 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealCanesFan


	Whats wrong can't sack App. St's QB without a patch.

OK, that made me laugh out loud.

# 533 AuburnAlumni @ 07/23/08 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rspencer86


	Adam, I believe that you could make the game appeal to both the hardcore gamers AND the casual gamers. The key is providing options for us hardcore players who want a simulation-style game. One of the ways to do that is by making the sliders much, much more effective. I'm not talking about fixing the bug that makes the User sliders affect both the user and CPU. I'm talking about things like if I set my interceptions slider at 0, there should not be any interceptions at all. If I set it at 100, I should be picking off 10-12 passes a game. Same thing with penalty sliders. I understand that the casual gamer doesn't want a bunch of holding and facemask calls negating their huge runs and ruining their 72-0 beatdowns of the CPU. But when I set the penalty sliders all the way to 100, I should see a LOT of penalties. Having this kind of extreme range allows us, the users, to find a "happy medium," whether that is on the "arcade" side or "simulation" side.

Bingo! Yahtzee!!! Touchdown Auburn!!!

If I have Break Block at 100, my DL and LBs should be DESTROYING blockers.

If I have Run Ability at 100, Tailbacks should be Bo Jackson incarnate.

If I have QB Pass Accuracy at 0, QBs shouldn't be able to complete a 10 yard out route (but throw POWER should not be affected).

The sliders don't do ENOUGH. Look at the sliders folks are using in the sliders forum for crying out loud. Stuff set at 90. Stuff set at 100. Stuff set at 0.

This PROVES that whatever the sliders are intended to affect just aren't doing anything noticeable with a "click" or two movement. You have to literally jack the sliders all the way up or all the way down to see any noticeable difference.

# 534 DrUrsus @ 07/23/08 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	I actually think that the cpu slider for kickoff length might actually work separate from the human. I have it set at 100 for cpu. I do agree that kick returns come out a little too far but we can't forget that the NCAA just recently moved the kickoffs to the 30 and we should expect better field position than the NFL because the kickers suck. This link (http://cfbstats.com/blog/2007/08/17/kickoff/) shows some stats from kickoffs from the 30 yard line the year before the rule change. The average kicked landed at the 9 yard line with the average starting drive at the 32. I think that is more than people realize. Chris Fowler predicted before last year that the average starting point would be between the 32 and 35 yard line (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/previe...ris&id=2997281). Punt returns are awful though and I just don't use turbo as a house rule. It sucks but not much else I can do. I do think they are a LOT better on Heisman though. Maybe I should bump up the difficulty for returns only. On punt block formations nobody even tries to run down the field to tackle you. That is really bad.

RudyJuly, that is some great info you posted. That is interesting that the average drive starts out on the 32. I was not aware of that, and it is more than I thought. And yes, college kickers are not as good overall. It actually makes me feel better about the KR game. Yes, I may have to resort to not using turbo or sprint on PRs.

I was under the impression that the CPU sliders did work for Special Teams. Are those not supposed to work also? They seem to work to me.
Thanks again.

# 535 ubigidiot @ 07/23/08 01:06 PM

i missed it somewhere in the 58 some pages, but somebody was asking if there was going to be a bowl patch??

i was just wondering what that patch would look like, is there a problem with bowl games or what would that entitle if there was once

# 536 DrUrsus @ 07/23/08 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwjr


	OK, that made me laugh out loud.

Me too since I am a Michingan *****, but we are supposed to stay on topic

# 537 DrUrsus @ 07/23/08 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuburnAlumni


	Bingo! Yahtzee!!! Touchdown Auburn!!! If I have Break Block at 100, my DL and LBs should be DESTROYING blockers. If I have Run Ability at 100, Tailbacks should be Bo Jackson incarnate. If I have QB Pass Accuracy at 0, QBs shouldn't be able to complete a 10 yard out route (but throw POWER should not be affected). The sliders don't do ENOUGH. Look at the sliders folks are using in the sliders forum for crying out loud. Stuff set at 90. Stuff set at 100. Stuff set at 0. This PROVES that whatever the sliders are intended to affect just aren't doing anything noticeable with a "click" or two movement. You have to literally jack the sliders all the way up or all the way down to see any noticeable difference.

EA has never quite figured out that 0 sliders should me nada nothing and 100 means all the time. If defensive pass interference is set at 100, it should mean that if you brush them you will be called for it, and at 0 you should be able to tackle them without the ball while they run a play without a Pass Interference call, for instance. Then the user can set his preferences. You could even have an all out arcadish experience if desired (although I wouldn't desire that). 2K was always better about their sliders although they aren't perfect either. Plus EA has never let you tweak enough sliders like 2K. More sliders in the future that work please.

# 538 DrUrsus @ 07/23/08 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubigidiot


	i missed it somewhere in the 58 some pages, but somebody was asking if there was going to be a bowl patch?? i was just wondering what that patch would look like, is there a problem with bowl games or what would that entitle if there was once

I think they were talking about patches on the jerseys and other cosmetic things like they had in the old gen games. Personally, I feel that EA has bigger fish to fry than to worry about that stuff now. Maybe next year.

# 539 callmetaternuts @ 07/23/08 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrUrsus


	EA has never quite figured out that 0 sliders should me nada nothing and 100 means all the time. If defensive pass interference is set at 100, it should mean that if you brush them you will be called for it, and at 0 you should be able to tackle them without the ball while they run a play without a Pass Interference call, for instance. Then the user can set his preferences. You could even have an all out arcadish experience if desired (although I wouldn't desire that). 2K was always better about their sliders although they aren't perfect either. Plus EA has never let you tweak enough sliders like 2K. More sliders in the future that work please.

Thats the reason AA, and I, and others are saying that the sliders being fixed will NOT help this years game. If we were a notch or two off, then the sliders would help, but until they are re-done in the manner we are talkign here, the slider adjustments arent big enough to fix the defensive issues.

We need those issues resolved on their own.

Im hoping that EA isnt saying, well the sliders is an easy thing to fix so lets do that as opposed to fixing the real issues. Im trying to have faith.

# 540 simgameonly @ 07/23/08 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edaddy


	I agree with you..Fortunately I saw the writing on the wall from prior statements regarding gameplay by EA reps. They actually don't see a problem with this or it's actually not enough of a detriment to warrant a gameplay patch..And if they don't see a problem we are out of luck. They will stick to the wide open gameplay mantra this year and that's all there is to it. Any unbiased and objective person can see the deliberate speed cheats and lack of pass rush in the game..as well as the superhuman phsycic quarterback ..EA banks on people who want a casual arcade like experience and I can't fault them it makes them a ton of money..Madden will be out in 2 weeks and NCAA will be a memory for alot of gamers. So the heat will be off of OMT and the NCAA team.They know that ..they will make minor adjustments with the second patch and since it becomes less of a priority it will be out in maybe October...I rented and will wait until it's at a bargain used price like I do every year. I have gamefly so it really doesn't matter to me. The EA reps are here for spinning purposes and sales ..they do a good job of it as people fall into the trap every year... AA just enjoy the game as is the fix you as well as a buch of folks are looking for aint going to happen!!!!

This sums it up nicely. Personally I am going to concede that this is about as good as its gonna get it and a "gameplay" patch is wishful thinking.

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