Tiger 14 News Post

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14 Adds a Fifth Difficulty Setting - Simulation

06:08 PM - February 1, 2013 by Steve_OS

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14 will offer 5 different difficulty levels. Amateur, Pro, TOUR Pro, Tournament and for the hardcore players a new 5th difficulty level, Simulation. Read all about it in the latest Developer blog.

Which level will you be playing on?

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Member Comments

# 21 DivotMaker @ 02/04/13 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocHolliday


	Sounds like a Cop-Out. NBA2k13 has mass amounts of custom animations in the game for hundreds of payers, and your telling me that EA cant get, what, 30 individual golf swings in the game? Thats ridiculous.

What is ridiculous is comparing a Golf game with a dynamic 3D OUTDOOR environment to an NBA arena.....a world of difference in the world of 3D rendering, especially when it comes to rendering animated grass, trees, etc. That is where much of the video memory for Tiger is consumed unlike NBA 2k13.....

# 22 DocHolliday @ 02/04/13 07:40 PM

Oh man they even got you on the "Animated Grass". Point is, there is enough room to add some signature swings if they wanted, because they did, they are just not all great.

Making claims that they are out of VRAM and that is why they aren't in, is just plain wrong.

# 23 DivotMaker @ 02/04/13 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocHolliday


	Oh man they even got you on the "Animated Grass". Point is, there is enough room to add some signature swings if they wanted, because they did, they are just not all great. Making claims that they are out of VRAM and that is why they aren't in, is just plain wrong.

Argue all you like, but if you can't handle the truth, then stop arguing. You obviously have no idea how different rendering a golf course is from rendering a basketball arena. Night and day difference. Go educate yourself on the rendering power and ram needed to render 3D animated trees and other environmental objects before you come here and make claims you can't possibly back up. I am not making "claims" as I have my sources and they are accurate.

# 24 DocHolliday @ 02/04/13 09:49 PM

Cool. Please post these sources.

# 25 Matt10 @ 02/04/13 09:57 PM

Divot, is it because the element (swing path, etc) need to interact with another element? On top of that the command to control the movement of said swing?

One would assume the pull of a joystick handle to the outer most left on the backswing would result in the club being sucked inside; and then a filck to the far right on the downswing results in an OVER THE TOP move.

These are the values of swing style I thought could be incorporated - but I can understand the movements necessary (a 360 movement if you will), but because the arms interact with the club - and the club interacts with the ball; etc - the resources necessary (RAM) would be too much to program.

Take a tree just swinging in the wind - and that is not an interact-able object - it's just in the background - not affecting anything.

Am I correct in these assumptions?

Fun discussion eitherway - but we don't have to get personal, guys.

# 26 DivotMaker @ 02/05/13 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocHolliday


	Cool. Please post these sources.

Sorry, not going to post my fact based sources against your personal opinion. Suffice to say, the TW engine is running into memory limitations when adding unique swings to the game. If you don't agree, then I am sorry you feel that way.

# 27 DivotMaker @ 02/05/13 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt10


	Divot, is it because the element (swing path, etc) need to interact with another element? On top of that the command to control the movement of said swing? One would assume the pull of a joystick handle to the outer most left on the backswing would result in the club being sucked inside; and then a filck to the far right on the downswing results in an OVER THE TOP move. These are the values of swing style I thought could be incorporated - but I can understand the movements necessary (a 360 movement if you will), but because the arms interact with the club - and the club interacts with the ball; etc - the resources necessary (RAM) would be too much to program. Take a tree just swinging in the wind - and that is not an interact-able object - it's just in the background - not affecting anything. Am I correct in these assumptions? Fun discussion eitherway - but we don't have to get personal, guys.

My understanding of the issue is that unique Golf swings take up a fair amount of memory to incorporate into the game due to the swing being fully motion captured. Other sports games like Madden, NBA2K, NHL, etc have memory budgets for their motion-captured players and the fact tha they are not rendering outdoor environments like a Golf course, they are rendering finite stadiums which take far less resources (memory footprint and GPU power) to render. That is why it is an apples to oranges comparison of a Golf game that is rendering one motion-captured golfer in a dynamic outdoor environment to a game that is rendering the inside of a building or stadium which takes far fewer resources and rendering 10 - 22 motion-captured players (assuming all 22 have unique motion-captured renderings which is not always the case for every player being rendered). Hope this makes sense.

# 28 Matt10 @ 02/05/13 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivotMaker


	My understanding of the issue is that unique Golf swings take up a fair amount of memory to incorporate into the game due to the swing being fully motion captured. Other sports games like Madden, NBA2K, NHL, etc have memory budgets for their motion-captured players and the fact tha they are not rendering outdoor environments like a Golf course, they are rendering finite stadiums which take far less resources (memory footprint and GPU power) to render. That is why it is an apples to oranges comparison of a Golf game that is rendering one motion-captured golfer in a dynamic outdoor environment to a game that is rendering the inside of a building or stadium which takes far fewer resources and rendering 10 - 22 motion-captured players (assuming all 22 have unique motion-captured renderings which is not always the case for every player being rendered). Hope this makes sense.

I've been interested in aspects of game design but it seems super complicated most of the time. This made sense to me though, and glad I'm on somewhat a right track.

# 29 DocHolliday @ 02/05/13 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivotMaker


	My understanding of the issue is that unique Golf swings take up a fair amount of memory to incorporate into the game due to the swing being fully motion captured. Other sports games like Madden, NBA2K, NHL, etc have memory budgets for their motion-captured players and the fact tha they are not rendering outdoor environments like a Golf course, they are rendering finite stadiums which take far less resources (memory footprint and GPU power) to render. That is why it is an apples to oranges comparison of a Golf game that is rendering one motion-captured golfer in a dynamic outdoor environment to a game that is rendering the inside of a building or stadium which takes far fewer resources and rendering 10 - 22 motion-captured players (assuming all 22 have unique motion-captured renderings which is not always the case for every player being rendered). Hope this makes sense.

Dude, if you were saying that EA is running into Memory issues because they are "Trying to animate every person in the Gallery individually and have them walk to each hole based on their personality and favorite Golfer"....Then I would agree with you that they would probably be running into memory issues.

But I repeat, adding a few fully motion captured swings, IS NOT causing them to suddenly run out of VRAM. Its a simple probably 3 Meg file stored on the disk that is recalled for a swing, probably using so little VRAM that the 360 would not even notice.

Im gonna drop this, but I have issues with people making sweeping claims like this and then trying to pass it off to other people as fact. Hell, Matt probably wants to be a programmer, do him a favor and don't let him believe this, repeat it at an interview, and never get a job.

Think of the kids.

# 30 DivotMaker @ 02/05/13 12:17 PM

"Dude"....read my response to Matt again. I stated system memory.....that is the biggest issue that EA is running into with the TIGER WOODS engine, not NBA2K13, Madden, NHL, FIFA or any other game engine. The unique swings take up alot of memory. The 360 and PS3 only have 512 MB each of system and video memory. EA used to have more unique swings in previous TW versions, but with each graphical upgrade each new version, they are running out of basic system memory to include the additional unique swings. Unless you have worked with EA on the TW console engine, then you have no basis to argue anything regarding what I am saying or my sources are telling me. I am done trying to reason with you. This thread needs to get back ON TOPIC which is discussing the new added difficulty mode.

# 31 DocHolliday @ 02/05/13 12:31 PM

You made the statement, the Burden of Proof is on you. Sorry that I didn't blindly take your post for Fact, and questioned your statements.

Didn't mean to embarrass you, but thats life.

# 32 DivotMaker @ 02/05/13 12:42 PM

The burden of proof is on you. I am posting FACTS from very reliable sources. You are not embarrassing me, only yourself.

# 33 OnlookerDelay @ 02/05/13 03:31 PM

It's going to be tough to pull off advanced shots when the strike meter is going to fade away as soon as you move your stick. Heck, I had trouble holding a visible cursor in position on the strike meter in Tiger 13, and that was just on the Y axis! I can see myself having some catastrophic results when trying to hold the right analog stick in one specific position to pull off an advanced shot.

If they've got everything tuned right, this advanced shot shaping could add a lot of depth and challenge to the game, particularly in the new Simulation difficulty.

# 34 fishepa @ 02/05/13 04:49 PM

Guys that's enough please.

# 35 Matt10 @ 02/05/13 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnlookerDelay


	It's going to be tough to pull off advanced shots when the strike meter is going to fade away as soon as you move your stick. Heck, I had trouble holding a visible cursor in position on the strike meter in Tiger 13, and that was just on the Y axis! I can see myself having some catastrophic results when trying to hold the right analog stick in one specific position to pull off an advanced shot. If they've got everything tuned right, this advanced shot shaping could add a lot of depth and challenge to the game, particularly in the new Simulation difficulty.

That's a good point. I am hoping that the shot shaping will result in the draws/fades landing to be determined in distance/characteristics. So fade = shorter distance, quicker stop; and draw = farther distance, more roll.

# 36 OnlookerDelay @ 02/05/13 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt10


	That's a good point. I am hoping that the shot shaping will result in the draws/fades landing to be determined in distance/characteristics. So fade = shorter distance, quicker stop; and draw = farther distance, more roll.

One of the stated improvements for the game is improved ball physics. If the points you've brought out aren't reflected in the outcome of the shot, I'll be disappointed. I've got a gut feeling that we will see this born out in the result; they've responded to so many other criticisms in this realm that I'd be surprised if this one doesn't get addressed.

# 37 DivotMaker @ 02/06/13 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt10


	That's a good point. I am hoping that the shot shaping will result in the draws/fades landing to be determined in distance/characteristics. So fade = shorter distance, quicker stop; and draw = farther distance, more roll.

In the versions I played at TWCD, that is what I saw....ball physics on the greens also are much improved with proper bounce and roll physics....

# 38 Matt10 @ 02/06/13 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivotMaker


	In the versions I played at TWCD, that is what I saw....ball physics on the greens also are much improved with proper bounce and roll physics....

Excellent news. Thanks for confirming, Div!

# 39 therizing02 @ 02/14/13 09:10 AM

I haven't picked up this game in three years. The main reason for that is because of the ridiculous rubber band CPU scores and the fact that when I was playing a tournament I always felt like I was the only one on the course.

Playing in tournaments, I just felt that I was by myself and didn't have any playing partners. It seemed to take the tournament feel out of the game...

Have improvements been made in this area?

# 40 DivotMaker @ 02/14/13 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therizing02


	Have improvements been made in this area?

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...tion-blog.html

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