JoeRudi26 MLB The Show '18 Sliders

[JoeRudi26]

First off, let me start out by saying that I realize Mods is predominantly populated by baseball hardcores that enjoy the PC aspect of the game and perhaps prefer it for various reasons. The work that has been done over the 13 years that I've been here has been nothing short of amazing. Through that hard work, dedication, and the need to keep the game of baseball updated and fresh, many talented people here have essentially breathed 12 years of life into a single release that would have been forgotten years ago. 

 

All that said, and although I set aside the game a handful of years ago, I would prefer baseball on the PC as well. There's something about being able to dig into the game of baseball, root out each and every aspect, and come out the other side knowing you have the game looking and playing as good as possible. Had 3DO, Trip Hawkins, and perhaps EA Sports decided to continue and keep improving on what they had, it's hard to imagine the game and what levels this community could have taken it to and what we would have had in our hands today. 

 

Moving on to the point of this thread -- and at the dawn of video gaming and baseball games in general -- all I can ever remember through the years has been trying to achieve realistic results while at the same time having as much fun as I could playing the game. In retrospect, the first game I could even come close with was the High Heat series, and then of course with all that's been done here, MVP 2005.  And now, after a decade of building, refining, listening to the community, and (I believe) sincerely trying to put a legit game of baseball on the market, Sony has delivered. I'm not interested in all of the frills; Diamond Dynasty, Online Competitions, RTTS, weekly challenges, etc., and although Trues has included this forum,  I'm not here to promote their product.

 

I'm here because I'm interested in gameplay,  as I believe most here are.

 

But going further, realistic gameplay is somewhat subjective. The game has evolved over the years, so what I grew up with and what we have today aren't quite the same thing. In particular, the offensive numbers are higher, pitchers throw less innings, injuries are more prevalent (players don't play hurt), and so on. All of these aspects have teetered the numbers over the years -- obviously. 

 

In a nutshell, you simply want the game to play to your liking, whatever that may be. I prefer to evolve with the game and prefer a simulation style of play as opposed to the arcade aspect. And in today's world, it's possible. 

 

I've been tweaking and testing the sliders the moment I took the game out of the box. I've come to the conclusion, and it's been this way for a couple of years now, that The Show's sliders were designed to coincide with one another. In fact, they RELY on each other. For example, reducing CPU strikeouts per game by human controlled pitching is a combination of Human Pitcher Control+CPU Foul Frequency+CPU Contact+CPU Timing. Relatively, it makes sense and sounds easy. To find the balance is the difficult part -- not just in pitching -- but in every aspect of the game.

 

Starters (Human) are throwing 85+ pitches through 5 innings with a ratio of +30 K/B with 6-8 K's and 3-5 walks per outing. Out of the box, the numbers were 13-15 K's and 0 walks per game. Of course pitcher's stamina, control, and overall attributes contribute to these numbers, but again, it's the balance you are looking for. With the threat of being hammered by power hitters, basehit by the contact hitters, or batters looking for a free ride to first base, you have no choice but to remained focused. Obviously, one starts with the pitcher/batter matchup and moves 'outward'. Sony has done an incredible job this year identifying and fine tuning player attributes and especially ball physics. Done right and starting with bare bones, it all starts to come together.

 

Finally, the sliders will be polished and ready to be released this weekend for anyone that's interested. I would suggest anyone using them to consider them as a base to start out with. Skill level and how we approach the game as individuals is the biggest factor of all when getting the game of baseball to play the way YOU want it to play.

 

So thanks to Trues and staff for keeping it all alive here and giving us all somewhere to endlessley dicuss the game. 

 

 

 

 

[laroquece]

[JoeRudi26]

lol, Carlos. Good to see you, amigo. You owe me a couple of online butt whoopin's.  

[laroquece]

haha what´s up Jay, you´re right, we play a pretty nice game back then. 1-0 I think, can´t wait to use your sliders once again

[JoeRudi26]

When breaking down the sliders to get the most realistic results, I start from what I think would be the most important aspect of the game, and work my way down. Video games are never perfect, but through player attributes alone, you must first take into account each individual player. For example, pitching to Mike Trout in 10 AB's as opposed to Martin Maldonado in 10 AB's is going to yield much different numbers across the board. This aspect is taken a step further when you factor in who's pitching and the game situation itself. Obviously.

 

After 30+ games of testing with an accurate roster set and previous experience with The Show's sliders, I pretty much have the base I'm going to use throughout the season. If by some chance a certain number seems skewed a couple of months into the schedule, I'll give it another look and try to rectify it as best I can.

 

Personal settings such as 'play level', 'camera views', ' hot zones/cold zones', etc. are really just how you prefer to see and approach the game. I personally play without the pitch meter, no strikezone graphic, and so on. However, I use one batting view and two different pitching views. During a road game, I will use the home team's pitching broadcast view for two reasons: 1. It's a bit more of a challenge using different road views (as opposed to the same home view for 80 games), and 2. Road games are a bit harder to compete in. I have tried using various batting views for road games as well, but simply can't adhere to the different depth perceptions enough to produce any kind of realistic results, so I stay with the one only.

 

The last thing you have to consider when looking at individual game numbers and why they would vary somewhat, would be the ballpark atmosphere; hitter's parks, pitcher's parks, time of day, and as you can see how the fog settled into the stadium in the pics below, would be the wind and the weather.

 

Home pitching view at Rickey Henderson Field (all stadiums vary slightly)

 

Batting view used in all stadiums

[JoeRudi26]

Basic Settings on Veteran Pitching/Hitting (Human Contact at +3)

 

 

 

 

 

[JoeRudi26]

The pitching sliders were the hardest to adjust, and although Human Control, Human Consistency and CPU Control are all set to zero,  the set in it's entirety develops the numbers fairly nicely.

 

[JoeRudi26]

This particular game (Oakland's home opener) would go 11 innings after Oakland's Dustin Fowler (pinch hit) homered in the bottom of the 9th inning. LA's Mike Trout and Zack Cozart would go back to back in the top of the 11th off of A's reliever Chris Hatcher to seal the win for the Angels.

 

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