About the AI "cheat"+more

[Jellyfish]

Hi!

first of all, im in general a huge fan of NBA Live 08, and with Albys RR + gameplay etc. it is as close as an EA Sports game has ever been to the real thing. I play EA's Madden and NHL series also, but both lose out to the awesomeness of NBA Live 08. The NHL-series dont resemble hockey at all, and even though Madden has its favourable things, overall it isnt as realistic of a football game as NBA Live 08 is of basketball.

However, as all of you know, EA, loves to screw over their players who seek absolute realism, and this widely annoying AI cheat is present in the NBA Live games as they are in the other EA Sports games. You know what im talking about, but just to be clear: I mean the thing where you dont seem to ever be able to win or lose with more than 10 points, and how after leading with 20 after the 3rd, the CPU always comes back and usually gets really close. Its not that annoying, as you still usually win those games if you play smart, but i who would like to play a full 82 season find it boring pretty fast, playing basically the same game over and over again. The losing teams gets a bucketload of offensive rebounds, and drains all shots no matter how contested they are. But you all probably know this....

The thing i wanted to ask is, has anyone found any sort of stuff in the different databases that affect this stuff? Im not aware of the excact terms, so i hope you get what i mean. Because in the NHL series, there has been this guy, "iam", who has made a Total Control Editor, and in that you are pretty much able to eliminate the AI comeback cheat completely. Sadly the NHL games are just so bad otherwise, that it doesnt help all that much for the enjoyment, but if someone was able to do something like that for NBA Live 08, the game would be absolutely perfect.

Has anyone of you, EVER, extended your lead in the 4th quarter with Superstar/All Star, while leading with 15-20 points? Has anyone ever had an even game at the half with Superstar/All Star, that you blew out in the second half? Heck, has anyone ever won with more than 15 points with All Star/Superstar while playing a regular NBA game?

Because its so frustrating when you play with a good team like the Lakers or the Spurs, that i dont seem to be able to beat the Kings, Grizzlies, Bobcats etc. with huge margins, ever, and it seems like it doesnt differ all that much if your playing the Lakers or the Grizzlies.

[Andrew]

We've never found a solution to the comeback logic unfortunately, there aren't any values we can edit. It is possible to blow out the CPU but it usually means getting cheesy when the CPU starts to mount its comeback, dumping the ball inside. Of course, they'll still come up with impossible stops, get away with bumping the player in the air (even if you've got the mid-air collision foul slider turned up) and you'll find yourself missing shots but it's still a better approach than attempting jumpshots once the CPU is on a roll.

[Jellyfish]

We've never found a solution to the comeback logic unfortunately, there aren't any values we can edit. It is possible to blow out the CPU but it usually means getting cheesy when the CPU starts to mount its comeback, dumping the ball inside. Of course, they'll still come up with impossible stops, get away with bumping the player in the air (even if you've got the mid-air collision foul slider turned up) and you'll find yourself missing shots but it's still a better approach than attempting jumpshots once the CPU is on a roll.

Yeah, its really annoying when i play perfect defense and some 60 FG power forward drains a jumpshot after another with a hand in his face.

One thing that i did in NHL 07, a game where the modders werent able to completely remove the comeback logic, was this:

I played the 2 first periods normally. Then i took control of both my and the cpu team, and just let the players stand still for the first 15-18 minutes of the last period. When there was just a couple of minutes left, i played the rest normally. Because in that game there was a horrible comeback logic and goal-fest in the 3rd, and this was a effective, but annoying way to get around it.

I've been thinking about trying this in NBA as well, but obviously the shot clock, and the 10 second violation is something that makes it a bit tougher, as you cant just let the players stand still for the whole quarter. And as i play with 9 minute quarters, it would therefore be logical to play with 12 minute quarters and then play the final 2 minutes of the 4th. That would mean that a game would be 38 minutes, just 2 minutes longer than what i normally play.
The bad thing about it is that it would totally skew the turnover statistics, as there would be a turnover every time the shot clock runs out, but i guess i could live with that. Or can you actually edit stats with some DB editor in NBA afterwards?

Maybe ill give it a try, and see how it plays out, as im really getting tired of this crap....

[Patr1ck]

Yeah, its really annoying when i play perfect defense and some 60 FG power forward drains a jumpshot after another with a hand in his face.

I always thought this was an issue of the games AI itself, especially with a good PF/C. As soon as they would get the ball they would put up a mid range shot that usually went in.

Funny thing, I haven't really noticed the cpu comeback logic in several years.

I've got a solution for you. Don't blow the computer out during the first three quarters and the comeback logic won't have much of an effect.

[Angelo]

Ive also noticed this kind of situation but the simple solution to this is a good aiact with fixed block.act and steal.act (i know pdub understands this) and also some editings in the defensive plays of each team..

[Patr1ck]

I remember getting complaints in the SUM mod because I edited the crunch.act file to make the computer more aggressive in the fourth quarter and they would always make a comeback. I did that to make it more competitive because it was already too easy.