Expand the help/manual

Expand the help/manual

Postby Schlitz » Tue May 01, 2018 3:41 am

I just purchased the game a few days ago and while I'm loving how deep and involved the game is, I've been having some issues. Scouring the forums is hard when looking for something specific so I tried clicking on HELP in the game which is pretty disappointing to be honest. The help/manual is very bare bones (only 17 pages?) and doesn't go into nearly enough detail in my opinion when it comes to the various game styles and advanced settings. Here are just a few examples of what I think could be added/improved:

Explain the technical differences between online/sandbox/career modes. There is a convert to career option but that is sometimes greyed out. When trying to use mods you need different .bin files depending on the mode and there are errors finding .tmp files when trying to start new seasons with mods. A more detailed explanation on how to start modded seasons for each mode would be a big help. Also maybe add a visual indicator that lets you see which mode you are playing. I've been tinkering with each mode type in trying to get the NFL 2017 mods to work but can't remember if I'm in a career or online or sandbox mode sometimes. Just something like simple text (league name-career) across the top of the screen would be nice for those of use playing multiple league types.

Some options seem to be greyed out depending on which mode you are playing. I created an online league and didn't know you had to log in as commish and then click on your team and log in again even when you are the only person controlling a team. That is nowhere in the help.

Assigning scouting points is also nowhere to be found in the help and in my online league I can view the draft class under SEARCH but when I go to scouting it shows no players and I can't find how to assign scouting points anywhere. Is there a difference in how scouting works between online/career/sandbox modes? Again, nothing in the help about this.

There is also very little explanation about the advanced settings like the run/pass modifiers. There is a little info in the help but not nearly enough to thoroughly explain the full effect of the yardage settings or playcalling settings. When I simmed my first season I found the passing stats to be a bit on the high side and want to tone it down but without knowing exactly what the modifiers do I could end up starting over multiple times before I figure it out which just isn't fun.

Staff also confuses me. Why can't I hire or fire my coaches mid season (at least in season one)? Is this also different depending on which mode you are playing? Again, nothing in help about how the staff works.

For those of us wanting to run an online league it would also be nice if you gave more specific details about the HTML/FTP workings. There is very little info in the help and from what I've seen on the forums I'm not the only one that finds it a bit unclear. After searching for a while I finally found that we need to hit the PUBLISH button. Sounds logical but there is no publish button under the online settings with all of our HTML/ftp info and if you have the AUTO UPLOAD HTML checked one may think that it does just that after each week. But instead you have to click on the HOME button and then publish which seems a bit unintuitive. At the very least adding a PUBLISH button to the online settings menu would make it more obvious.

Overall I just think a much more detailed manual would be a great help. Explain the differences between how each mode works, what options are not available in certain modes, and give a little more detail about all the advanced settings and using mods. As it stands, I've spent hours and hours just trying to get mods to work in the different modes and figure out why some things are greyed out depending on which mode I'm playing and starting leagues over and over again when things don't work right or the stats are out of whack. You've made a fantastically deep and complex game so I think many people would appreciate a deeper manual/guide to go along with it.
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Re: Expand the help/manual

Postby brooks_piggott » Mon May 07, 2018 3:30 pm

These are fair points... will try and get more information into the manual. Typically we focus on features and stabilizing the game and the manual falls behind. We use the forum because we can answer specific questions, but having more detailed information in the manual will certainly help with common questions that we don't expect to change.
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Re: Expand the help/manual

Postby Schlitz » Wed May 09, 2018 1:12 am

Cool thanks! The forums are a good spot for some help but can be a little challenging having to search so much and not finding everything you're looking for.
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