'New' sim method?

[gambler]

David,

First of all, I have to say I'm very pleased that there will be a career mode with the game. Second, I noticed you saying awhile back that you were changing the sim engine from one that basically played out a game (without graphics) to a 'quick sim' mode which doesn't. One of my big problems with most games is that the sim engines don't produce the same stats as the played games. I have no idea how close your quick sim engine will be to your played games but I'm wondering if it would be at all possible to keep both sim modes in the game for those of us who want to guarantee that our played games utilize the same stat generator as the simmed games? If I recall, Front Page Sports Football did this and I never had any problem with the time it took to play out a game in the 'full sim' mode even though it was somewhere around 3-5 minutes a game.

One of the reasons I'm asking is because, assuming it's still possible (and based on an answer to another question it seems to be with a bit of a workaround) I plan to work on a 'History of Pro Football' utility where ratings change over time for players depending on the era. Not sure what kind of 'almanac' will be in the retail version of the game, but I may work on one of those too, and for me at least, I'll want the stats of the played games to match up more or less 100% to the simmed games...

The answer won't affect whether I buy the game, it's already on my list of 'preorder as soon as available', but thanks in advance for the answer.

Robert

[Tbird]

I'm kinda worried about it too
Don't know how hard it would be to have the option for both [:(]

[Marauders]

I agree, Tbird.

It would be great to have an option for both, as FBPro did. As you know, that was pretty much the consensus at the Maximum-Football board.

David has not given a final answer on this, so perhaps it would make a nice question for the developer chat.

[GROGK]

Count me in on this too.

[tiredoftryingnames]

This is a killer. I use to play the old front page sports football. And the great thing about it was it's sim was no graphics and offense and defense called plays from the scripted playbook, substitions were made and so forth and you ended up with game stats just like if you had called the plays. It made it more interesting for the games you don't play to give some comparable stats as you progressed through the season. Madden football just "sims" the games and you end up with completely retarded stats and scores. Which is one the reasons I don't play it anymore. I have a good game with my QB and then look at the other games and Jay Fiedler threw 5 TDs for 500 yards. Whatever.

[steelcurtain]

For me, what will separate this game from Madden 2004 (the newer maddens are tough for custom teams) is the 'old/real' sim like FBpro. A sim which doesn't include the plays and physics of the coach/watched game will be a disappointment. I think a lot of the community interested in a career mode feel the same way. They don't mind waiting 5 min for a game to sim.

I just found out about this game and was getting exicted till I read the post about the reason for delay. Its sad that the delay apparently will be to remove one of the best aspects of this game (well...hopefully not remove just give an extra option).

Except for the rule/league customizations for the CFL, AFL etc. fans I don't see what besides the sim style would make it better feature-wise then Madden 04. It may play more realistically, but Madden is pretty decent in gameplay and will be tough to beat by a single programmer (though real physics should be a better sim then motion capture).

I've been waiting for a game like this since the FBpro 99 disaster (it was so damn close to greatness!!!). So I'm rootin' for ya David, but please don't remove sucha great option completely [&o].

[zowee77]

Steelcurtain

Just out of curiosity did you ever have any luck with the version 2.0.8 patch for Football Pro 99? I have tried as of late to actually fire the game back up. It never got completely patched due to $ierra closing their Northwest division that is why I never really completely stuck with the game back in the day. I have to say I respect Joe Reifel for trying to get the 2.0.10 out the door prior to the closing of that division. To bad it broke just as many things as it fixed. This is one of the reasons I have been so patient with Maximum Football because I know what it is like to almost have the ultimate football game and watching a company only concerned about a deadline push something out the door and then not only damage their credibility but have to recall the game. I have not bought a $ierra product since. The amazing thing to me about Football Pro 99 is that if it had been completed you could have even adjusted the physics in the game by the fbpro.ini file, that to me is unbelievable. To be honest as good as Maximum Football will be I don't think right now that it even has that ability, but I will say it will have many other features which will make it a good football sim and at the very least it will be complete and I am sure supported.

[David Winter]

ORIGINAL: zowee77
The amazing thing to me about Football Pro 99 is that if it had been completed you could have even adjusted the physics in the game by the fbpro.ini file, that to me is unbelievable. To be honest as good as Maximum Football will be I don't think right now that it even has that ability, but I will say it will have many other features which will make it a good football sim and at the very least it will be complete and I am sure supported.

Actually, you can adjust things like the blocking threshold and the weight of the ball if you go in and edit the main databases. It's not ini based, but it's doable.

[steelcurtain]

Didn't have luck with any of the patches zowee...each one broke something new while fixing something else. In many ways the game was closer to finished before they started patching.

The ini files were awesome, so I'm really happy the hear that we'll be able to alter stuff on this game as well. Games that are more open to the gaming community turn out to be much better, since we can tweak it to our liking. If the code for FBpro was released maybe someone out there could have salvaged it.

I hope David's lack of comment on the sim method, doesn't mean that the old/real sim is dead.....I don't want more Madden type sims, where game plan, profiles and plays don't really matter and the sim doesn't correspond to the coach/watched game.

[zowee77]

David,

That is awesome buddy keep up the good work.

[gambler]

So.. uh...

About my original question. Is it still going to be possible to sim the game the 'original' way (ie, playing out the game, just without the graphics), or is there only going to be the 'fast sim' method? To be honest, this is a big issue for me. I play numerous football games on the XBox and PC, and I hate that most of them have a completely separate sim method than the engine that plays a game. I'll probably still buy this game no matter what due to the ability to customize it, but I hope the original sim method is still available as an option.