Madden NFL 16 News Post

Don't Start Your Madden NFL 16 CFM Until New Patch Arrives, According to Developers

10:54 AM - August 26, 2015 by BTW

Last night, during Game Changers Radio, Kolbe Launchbaugh, Creative Director of Madden NFL 16, advised everyone to wait until the upcoming patch (no estimated date yet, but we have seen "less than six weeks" thrown around by the development team) arrives before starting their CFM.

He talks about it at roughly the 13 minute mark.

They are aware of everything the community is bringing to their attention
They are addressing many of those items in a patch coming soon (no estimated date given)
You should wait until the patch is released before starting your CFM, as some of the fixes will require client side and server side fixes

No details have been given on what fixes are being implemented as of yet, but for now, it would be wise not to start your Madden NFL 16 CFM yet.

As for what could be in the patch. This is all speculation but here are some of the known CFM issues:

Ratings boost from drive goals making some players go over 100 overall. There is no workaround right now, drive goals are always on even if you don't keep notifications going on your screen.
Regression being overly harsh on offensive linemen (seems to be more pass blocking than anything else) that causes their ratings to fall quite drastically. This appears to stem more from SuperSim or simulating games as linemen give up too many sacks and then regress.
Rookies coming in that are not scaled to the new speed/deep accuracy ratings Madden is using on default rosters. So many new rookies can come in after season one and be better than most everyone else in the game at certain things. (This one seems like it would obviously be a reason you have to start your franchise over because rookies are put in your Year 1 CFM from the start of the season.)

Other issues we are tracking but haven't confirmed on staff ourselves:

QBs getting too many carries during a game (in SuperSim but not regular sims).
Re-signing players to really crazy bargains (that is, superstars taking major discounts).

Game: Madden NFL 16Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 24 - View All

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Member Comments

# 41 bkrich83 @ 08/26/15 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricFreakingBerry


	Define "major bugs" because I've bought MLB The Show and NBA2K games for the last 3 years within 48 hours of their releases and never once couldn't play a mostly bug-free franchise mode.

I would say the Wrigley boundary bug is major. Before that runs being counted after the 3rd out was recorded. Before that the white screen freeze issue. These are just a few. I love mlb but to say it's been without major bugs is disingenuous.

And mlb has had more than its share of progression/ regression issues. Major Free agents never being signed. Etc.

# 42 aholbert32 @ 08/26/15 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFNiners816


	This just isn't any mode this has kinda been the backbone off he game for over a decade and a half. It is very unacceptable for a sports game in the 2010s be released without the ability to play a functional franchise mode. This is the first time I can remember them saying to delay starting the mode. There have been events in the past that had freezing issues that required restarts if you came upon them, but nothing like this in which a dev guy is telling you not to start a mode. Plain and simple, there is no excuse for this not to be discovered, especially since it was discovered rather easily by many in the first 10 hours of playing the game.

I'd argue that online and MUT have been more important modes in this game for the past 5 plus years.

# 43 aholbert32 @ 08/26/15 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrich83


	I would say the Wrigley boundary bug is major. Before that runs being counted after the 3rd out was recorded. Before that the white screen freeze issue. These are just a few. I love mlb but to say it's been without major bugs is disingenuous. And mlb even has had more than its share of progression/ regression issues. Major Free agents never being signed. Etc.

**** NBA2k15 barely had fouls called at release (even with sliders at 100) and it took X1 owners almost three months before it was patched.

I love the NBA2k series but its generally buggy as hell on release.

# 44 bkrich83 @ 08/26/15 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	**** NBA2k15 barely had fouls called at default and it took X1 owners almost three months before it was patched. I love the NBA2k series but its generally buggy as hell on release.

And my personal pet peeve no highlights for games with longer than 6 min qtrs. 2 years in a row mind you.

# 45 Sphinx @ 08/26/15 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LorenzoDC


	I can only speak for NBA2k on that list, but that game has not nearly been as bug ridden as Madden has in recent years. It's main issues have been server access and reliability for online play. That's not about the code, it's about the cloud based infrastructure. And as far as franchise modes go, you can't even talk about Madden and The Show or NBA2k in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence. Madden just can't hide behind the short development cycle. It's not as if the cycle is a new phenomenon - they've been at this a long time. If you do project management and code building right, you build on layers year by year and make expansions and improvements off a solid foundation. Madden, like everyone else, put in a new foundation with the new consoles, just as the others did. And yet it has had more problems, false starts and steps backward. I really think it's the EA culture that is not designer friendly, leaving the design and engineering side unable to do stable planning, investment and infrastructure building because they are subject to the whims of the bean counters and marketing suits year on year.

I don't disagree with what you're saying but I think developing something like madden is slightly more difficult then many of us think. I would imagine they have some pretty old legacy code out there buried underneath the new code and architecture. I do feel madden,MLB and NBA2k can be used in direct comparison. All of them have a yearly dev cycle and all of them take a different approach. All of them have their issues at launch, Madden is our focus because we all want to play the perfect football game. Perfect, is a bit of an overstatement but we want a good representation of what we think the game should be. It's not right now, I am not arguing that. But to say none of these others games have issues at release is not accurate either.

# 46 aholbert32 @ 08/26/15 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidSquid


	Which brings us to a bigger issue in my opinion, do they even do quality testing at EA Tiburon?

They do but that isnt a guarantee to catch a bug. There are plenty of people here who played CFM all last week and didnt realize their were any major issues with CFM.

# 47 EricFreakingBerry @ 08/26/15 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LorenzoDC


	I can only speak for NBA2k on that list, but that game has not nearly been as bug ridden as Madden has in recent years. It's main issues have been server access and reliability for online play. That's not about the code, it's about the cloud based infrastructure. And as far as franchise modes go, you can't even talk about Madden and The Show or NBA2k in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence. Madden just can't hide behind the short development cycle. It's not as if the cycle is a new phenomenon - they've been at this a long time. If you do project management and code building right, you build on layers year by year and make expansions and improvements off a solid foundation. Madden, like everyone else, put in a new foundation with the new consoles, just as the others did. And yet it has had more problems, false starts and steps backward. I really think it's the EA culture that is not designer friendly, leaving the design and engineering side unable to do stable planning, investment and infrastructure building because they are subject to the whims of the bean counters and marketing suits year on year.

This x10000. The other companies can get away with a few bugs here or there because literally ZERO of the bugs I've seen in patch notes for those games or experienced in my gameplay were egregious and/or they were related to online feature sets which everyone should assume there will be kinks to work out upon release.

Neither of those other gaming franchises have put out an on-disk/download gaming mode that is so bogged down with mind-numbing issue after mind-numbing issue. EA is showing some responsiveness lately, which is a really GOOD thing for them; hopefully, within the next 1-2 years they will perform an overwhelming host of fixes to their engine that gives them something stable to build upon.

There is nothing about EA that's been customer-friendly for years, so we'll see how long this takes to fix, but I may just trade Madden in for NBA2K16 until they prove themselves with a stable CFM product.

# 48 aholbert32 @ 08/26/15 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrich83


	And my personal pet peeve no highlights for games with longer than 6 min qtrs. 2 years in a row mind you.

Yep and 2k cant seem to fix that on the ps4.

# 49 SFNiners816 @ 08/26/15 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	I'd argue that online and MUT have been more important modes in this game for the past 5 plus years.

That doesn't justify having a broken franchise mode in a sports game. Especially considering that a portion of that increase of online traffic is because of an on line franchise mode.

# 50 LowerWolf @ 08/26/15 12:49 PM

It seems like just about every game these days needs at least one post-release day patch before you can really dive into it.

# 51 bkrich83 @ 08/26/15 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricFreakingBerry


	This x10000. The other companies can get away with a few bugs here or there because literally ZERO of the bugs I've seen in patch notes for those games or experienced in my gameplay were egregious and/or they were related to online feature sets which everyone should assume there will be kinks to work out upon release. Neither of those other gaming franchises have put out an on-disk/download gaming mode that is so bogged down with mind-numbing issue after mind-numbing issue. EA is showing some responsiveness lately, which is a really GOOD thing for them; hopefully, within the next 1-2 years they will perform an overwhelming host of fixes to their engine that gives them something stable to build upon. There is nothing about EA that's been customer-friendly for years, so we'll see how long this takes to fix, but I may just trade Madden in for NBA2K16 until they prove themselves with a stable CFM product.

That's a lot of hyperbole for one post.

# 52 bkrich83 @ 08/26/15 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	Yep and 2k cant seem to fix that on the ps4.

It's not major but it pisses me off.

# 53 LorenzoDC @ 08/26/15 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	**** NBA2k15 barely had fouls called at release (even with sliders at 100) and it took X1 owners almost three months before it was patched. I love the NBA2k series but its generally buggy as hell on release.

How much of that game do you play?

I've played around 350+ 12 minutes quarter games in NBA2k15 MyLeague, and I'm on XB1. Before that patch, I maxed my slider for fouls and got about10 free throws per game - not enough, but not a BROKEN MODE. Then post patch I eased up on the sliders and got good free throw and foul stats.

You're not making apples to apples comparisons. The issue you mention pales in comparison to a whole set of issues that led the game's chief developer to advise people not to play the whole mode. No one is saying the other games are percect, so don't use that straw man.

I mean, c'mon, man. You're reaching, and I'm not even sure you play NBA2k, as I never see you on those threads.

# 54 Sphinx @ 08/26/15 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	They do but that isnt a guarantee to catch a bug. There are plenty of people here who played CFM all last week and didnt realize their were any major issues with CFM.

Also, depending on their QA testing schedule, certain bugs will be found and others wont. I highly doubt their testers are playing the game the same way we do. They probably have some QA procedures set and go through and sign off on what they tested. Then theres the part where QA finds an issue late in the cycle and the developers have to decide if it's a showstopper. Something that literally will prevent the basic functions of the game from working. Anything else probably gets a severity and worked on from there. This has been my experience at the company I work for.

# 55 bkrich83 @ 08/26/15 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LorenzoDC


	I'm not even sure you play NBA2k, as I never see you on those threads.

Lmao. Are you serious?

# 56 ajk49er @ 08/26/15 12:56 PM

probably good advice. I have played CFM to try and find all the "game breaking" bugs.

when you go put XP into your HC, it shows you spent it, then you go back in and realize it doesn't save....you wonder if ANY testing could have gone into CFM.

I am willing to be very forgiving if they patch ALL of these major issues that should be working out of the box

# 57 aholbert32 @ 08/26/15 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFNiners816


	That doesn't justify having a broken franchise mode in a sports game. Especially considering that a portion of that increase of online traffic is because of an on line franchise mode.

Who is justifying it? I never justified that. I was just responding to his reasoning and his claim that CFM is the "backbone" of Madden.

There is not a single sports game thats released that doesnt have significant bugs now a days. The key is are they significant to you?

Take NBA 2k15: There were virtually no fouls called in that game at release. It made me furious because Fouls are a significant part of the game. Most of the "sim" community here didnt care. There were maybe 1 or 2 posts about that before it was fixed. It took 2k 3 months to fix.

Thats why you see people here claiming that NBA2k never had any major bugs.....because those bugs werent "major" to them.

Take Madden 16: I dont play CFM past one season so the fact that rookies are being generated with increased speed ratings doesnt effect me at all. I recognize though that it is a big thing to alot of people.

Every game has bugs. Each year you have to hope that their isnt a bug that affects the way YOU play. Now knowing that there are always bugs on release....wouldnt it be smart to just a few weeks before buying the game?

# 58 Sphinx @ 08/26/15 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajk49er


	probably good advice. I have played CFM to try and find all the "game breaking" bugs. when you go put XP into your HC, it shows you spent it, then you go back in and realize it doesn't save....you wonder if ANY testing could have gone into CFM. I am willing to be very forgiving if they patch ALL of these major issues that should be working out of the box

I do agree that the game should be working right out of the box. All games should in my opinion. But without knowing what restraints were given to the madden developers, I personally won't condemn them for the bugs in this release.

# 59 DanBootleg @ 08/26/15 12:58 PM

That makes me feel better about waiting to buy it.

# 60 redsox4evur @ 08/26/15 12:58 PM

Someone please point me to a game that came out in the past year that hasn't needed a patch?

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