Front Page Sports: Football Pro '95             Version 1.03 Patch

This file describes the changes that the 1.03 patch makes to
Football Pro '95 version 1.00.

WARNING: You MUST have at least 2 Meg of HD space to run this 
patch disk. Also, this patch replaces your NFLPA94 league with 
one that contains more accurate rosters.  Your old NFLPA94 league and 
backups will be renamed as NFL94.

In the future, if you want to copy a new NFLPA94 league over your
current one, just go to the FBPRO95 directory and type "NFLPA94."

CONTENTS

I     Bugs Fixed in Version 1.03
II    New Features Added in Version 1.03
III   Notes on CAMS
IV    Player Ratings Profile Editor (PRPE)
V     Tips on Using Formulae in the PRPE
VI    Note on Pro Bowl Selection Criteria
VII   Play / Coaching Profile / Game Plan Conversion
VIII  Play Naming Conventions
VIV   Miscellaneous

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Running the UPDATE

  To update version 1.00 of Football Pro '95 to version 1.03, 
  insert the patch disk into your floppy drive and type UPDATE 
  from your A: or B: drive.  
  
  If your FBPRO95 is in a different directory than C:\SIERRA\FBPRO95, 
  type: UPDATE [drive for patch disk] [drive for FBPRO95] 
  [dir for FBPRO95]; i.e. "UPDATE A: D: \FOOTBALL\FBPRO"
  (Remember to leave a space between the DRIVE and DIR for FBPRO95.)

  You will also need to run FPSUPDAT to update your
  CUSTOM coaching profiles and game plans. 

==========================================================

I.  Bugs Fixed in Version 1.03

This patch disk makes the following revisions to Front 
Page Sports: Football Pro '95, version 1.00:

* Corrects the problem where players on IR were 
  allowed to remain on the Active/Inactive roster. 

* Corrects the problem where the computer teams would 
  leave injured players on active status. 

* Corrects the problem where the computer teams would 
  not properly adjust the players in the depth chart.

* Renames the tutorial plays to the correct names 
  from the manual.

* Corrects the fact that leagues had to be in the 
  FBPRO95 directory to use the "Show Highlights" feature.

* Corrects the way that the passer rating is calculated.

* Corrects the problem where the referee would sometimes 
  point in the wrong direction to denote a First Down.  

* Corrects the problem where a field goal try of 94 
  yards or more would force you to exit the game.

* Corrects the problem where the computer would 
  substitute fatigued players, even when "Computer subs 
  for fatigue" was not selected on the game settings screen.

* Corrects the problem where the fatigue and hot/cold streak
  colors did not work when in Advanced Play Calling mode.

* Corrects the problem where you could not run BAKLEG.BAT to  
  backup a league to a specific directory. 

* Improves the computer AI for playcalling and 2-pt PATs. 

II. New Features Added in Version 1.03 

* Crowds now appear in the stands.

* The original NFLPA94 league is replaced with a more 
  accurate one.

* FG/PAT kick success percentage is improved.

* There is less likelihood of an offensive pass inter-
  ference penalty.

* There is less likelihood of a blocked punt.

* You may now change player's positions (like Front Page 
  Sports: Football Pro, except there are still no 
  TE/WR changes allowed).

* There are more free agents available for each position 
  in the college and supplemental drafts at the end of each 
  season.

* You may now change the default CAMS views to one similar 
  to the default in the original Football Pro.

III. Notes on CAMS 

A second default CAMS configuration has been 
included with this patch disk. Some people have expressed 
a desire to have default views similar to those in 
the original FB Pro. If you wish to have these views: 

1. Make sure that there are no saved games or games in progress. 
   You may want to finish all saved games first and then run 
   "OLDPRO."

2. Exit the game and type "OLDPRO" from your FBPRO95 directory.

3. If there are saved games these will be deleted.
   
   After all saved games have been deleted the new default 
   views will be setup.

Now when you type "hike" to return to the game, you'll 
find that the number key views are assigned as follows: 

[1]  View from behind offense
[2]  View 45 degrees to the left
[3]  View from the left
[4]  View 135 degrees to the left
[5]  View from behind defense
[6]  View from 135 degrees to the right
[7]  View from the right
[8]  View 45 degrees to the right
[9]  None (Though you may assign a view yourself)
[0]  Overhead view

If you want to reset your default views back to the 
way they were originally for Football Pro '95, go out of 
the game, and type "NEWPRO". Again, you will have to complete 
all saved games before using this feature or these games 
will be deleted for you.

*Hints on using CAMS

1. If SELECTED PLAYER is selected as WHAT (the object) in a 
   CAMS view, then, in a 1-player game against the 
   computer, the camera will operate in much the same
   manner as the TEAM view in Football Pro. The camera will track 
   your selected offensive player when you are on offense and 
   your selected defensive player when you are on defense. 

   The "selected" player when you are on offense will always 
   be the player with the ball. If you are on defense and 
   you take control of a defensive player by moving the 
   joystick or pressing a directional key, the "selected" 
   player will, by definition, be the one that you are 
   controlling. To change the selected player to the man 
   closest to the ball, press the "B" button on your joystick.
   When the object is "Selected Player" and you change 
   the player that you control, your view will change also. 

2. The CAMS system is designed to be flexible enough 
   to allow you to program any views into the top row 
   of number keys. But, for a change in a camera 
   view to be retained after you leave the game and
   then return, you must "assign" it. For instance, 
   if you wanted to change the camera view assigned to 
   the number [1] key to be zoomed closer to the players, 
   you must: 

   A. While on the field, press the [F10] key to open the CAMS 
      interface.

   B. Press [1] to make sure you make this is the "current" 
      view.

   C. Make the desired Zoom and Location adjustments to the 
      camera view using the CAMS interface.

   D. Press the red MENU ASSIGNMENT button and click on 
      the button or row for number [1]. 

The new perspective has now been assigned to the 
[1] key on the top row of your keyboard. 

*Target Area-Active  View

The view called Target Area - Active is a view that 
changes cameras depending on where the ball is 
located. To determine what each zone's camera view 
will be, you must: 

1. Open the CAMS controls and set the Mode to TARGET AREA. 

2. Set each individual zone's camera view (left short, 
   middle short, etc.). 

3. After all of the specific zone views are set up the 
   way you want them, set the WHAT to ACTIVE and assign the 
   view to whatever number key you wish. 

Now, whenever the ball enters a particular zone, the 
ACTIVE camera will become the one you set up for that 
zone. This mode is best suited to playing in Coach-only 
mode, as the constantly-changing view angles make it 
difficult to control your players with the joystick 
or keyboard.

IV. Player Ratings Profile Editor

The Player Ratings Profile Editor (PRPE) is a utility 
that may be used to change the ratings for all 
players of a specific or general position in a 
particular league. 

If you wish to use the PRPE to adjust ratings, there are 
four basic steps:

1. Go to the LEAGUE DATA screen and load the league that 
   contains the players you wish to edit. Then click on 
   "Player Ratings Editor" to go to the PRPE.

2. Create a formula that will be used to RANK the players. 
   It is important to remember that the formula only 
   determines the ordering of players from best to worst, 
   not the actual ratings.

3. Go to the Curve Selection screen by clicking on 
   "Show Results"; this will show you how all of players 
   are ranked according to the criteria in your formula. 
   It will also show the raw data ("RESULT") for each player 
   according to the formula. Now you must decide what the 
   lowest ranked player's rating should be and also the 
   highest ranked player. These numbers are then entered 
   into the MIN and MAX boxes, respectively.

4. Select the distribution curve for the players' ratings; 
   this determines how the ratings are grouped. 
   
   Straight: even distribution of ratings between Min and Max
   
   Bell: more players near the average of the Min and Max 
   
   Log: more players near the Min 
   
   Exp: more players near the Max

Remember, no changes are made to players' ratings until you
APPLY a profile or SAVE RATINGS. A profile is the listing 
of formulae, Min/Max's and distribution that will be used 
to adjust the players' ratings. So, if you load a league, 
load a profile, and then click on APPLY PROFILE, all 
players in the league will have their ratings revised 
using the formulae in the player ratings profile. 

Note: The PRPE utility was used to set the basis for players' 
ratings in the NFLPA leagues in Football Pro '95. However, 
we modified many player ratings AFTER the formula was 
applied to the leagues to produce more realistic scores
and statistics. So, if you load the DEFAULT player ratings 
profile and click on APPLY PROFILE, the ratings in that 
league will not be the same as the ones that came with 
the game.

V. Tips on Using Formulae in the PRPE

When you create formulae to rank the players of a particular 
position, you have many items to choose from. You can select 
their years in the league, passer rating, individual's stats, 
team stats, stats for opposing teams, or even the current 
ratings.

If you use formulae that use stats to set ratings when 
a league is at the beginning of the season, your results 
will not be very useful, since the statistics will all 
be "0". Statistic-based formulae are most useful at the 
end of the season when the players will have a full season 
of stats on which to base the rankings. 

Example 1: You have just completed a season with NFLPA94 
league. For the 1995 season, you want all the HBs' speed 
(SP) adjusted so the players with the most yardage in the 
1994 season will be the fastest for 1995.

To do this you would go to the Player Ratings Editor and: 

1. Click on "Select Position", then choose "HB".

2. Click on "SP" in the gray rating box toward the top 
   of the screen. You will now be editing the formula 
   for all HBs speed in this league. You have NOT changed 
   the ratings yet.

3. Clear the current formula by clicking on "CE/C" twice.

4. Click on "Ind. Stats." to bring up a display of 
   individual statistics. Scroll down the list until 
   you see the stat called "Yards Rushing." 
   Click on it and its abbreviation (I:RUY) will 
   appear in the formula display.

5. The formula is now "HB SP = I:RUY". Click on 
   "Show Results". You will now go to the Curve Selection 
   screen, which will show all of the HBs ranked by rushing 
   yardage for the 1994 season. Under "RESULT," each 
   player's rushing yardage for 1994 will be shown. 

6. Set the MIN and MAX values. (Use 50 and 90, 
   respectively.) Then click on "Calculate" to distribute 
   the players' ratings from 50 to 90 through four 
   different distribution curves. 

7. Scroll through the list and determine which of the four 
   distributions you like best, then click on the column 
   heading for that distribution. This will select these 
   ratings for the players, however the ratings are still 
   not ASSIGNED to the players.

8. To assign these to the actual league, click on "Save 
   Ratings". You will be asked to select a league from 
   the scroll box. You can either select NFLPA94 (to 
   replace the ratings in that league) or enter a new name 
   into the box (to create a new league with the revised 
   HB SP ratings). Now, the HB SP ratings have been revised
   but all other ratings, endzone art, insignia, etc. will 
   remain from NFLPA94.

Example 2: You want to improve all of the leagues' TE HA ratings, 
but have them ranked in the same order.

1. Select the TE position, click on the gray "HA" radio 
   button in the box toward the top of the screen. 

2. Set the HA formula equal to HA by clearing the current 
   formula (double-click CE/C) and then clicking on the 
   red "HA" button. 

3. When you show results, the TEs will be ranked by the 
   current HA rating. If the highest TE HA rating is 85 
   and the lowest is 60, you could change the MAX to 95 
   and the MIN to 70.

4. Choose a Straight Distribution, and then SAVE 
   RATINGS. Now all of the TEs will have better HA or 
   "Hands" ratings. 

VI. Note on Pro Bowl Selection Criteria 

If you play a Pro Bowl Game and decide to 
set CUSTOM criteria, you will use the same method 
as the above examples. The only difference is 
that you will not be able to select a rating radio button
from the gray box at the top of the screen.
This is because you are not able to adjust ratings 
while in the Pro Bowl. You can only set
criteria for Pro Bowl player selection.

Example: If you set the HB formula to be "Yards 
Rushing" and then click on SHOW RESULTS, you will be
shown a listing of all of the HBs in the league and 
their ranking by yards rushing. If there ARE no yards
rushing (beginning of the season) then the HBs will
be ranked by the total of their ratings.

VII. Play / Coaching Profile / Game Plan Conversion

If you convert game plans and coaching profiles that use
stock plays from Football Pro, you will have to replace 
these with new plays from Football Pro '95. The 
stock plays in Football Pro '95 are not the same 
as those in Football Pro.

The reason is, because many of the play commands in the 
Football Pro '95 play editor were revised, most of the 
Football Pro stock plays did not play properly when 
converted. If you have stock plays from Football Pro 
that you'd like to use in Football Pro '95:

1. Make sure the original Football Pro is installed 
   on your hard drive. 

2. Load the FB Pro stock play into the FB Pro 
   Play Editor, then save it in the FB Pro \CUSTOM 
   directory under the same "stock" name. 

3. Repeat this process for all stock plays from FB Pro 
   that you wish to convert.

4. When you have finished, move all of the plays from 
   the \CUSTOM directory in FB Pro to the \CUSTOM 
   directory in FB Pro '95.

5. Convert the plays in the FBPRO95\CUSTOM directory 
   using the FPSUPDAT utility from FB Pro '95, specifying 
   the location of the custom plays: 

   EX: FPSUPDAT C:\SIERRA\FBPRO95\CUSTOM. 

   For more info on converting plays, see page 13 
   of your manual.

6. Now you will want to look at these plays in the 
   FB Pro '95 play editor, as you may want or need to
   make changes to the play so it does what you intended.

Also, when you are converting your plays from Football 
Pro, you may get a message that says "Not an NFL play." 
In Football Pro '95 the 5 Offensive Linemen have a 
limited area where they can line up on the line of 
scrimmage. The FPSUPDAT utility will not convert a 
play with Offensive Linemen that are positioned outside of 
this limited area. In order to convert such a play, you 
will have to edit it, using the FB Pro Play Editor to 
move the Offensive Linemen to their correct positions 
on the line of scrimmage; 

Ex:          T    G    C    G    T
                       QB

and then resave the play, retaining the revised
OL positions. Then you should be able to convert 
the play to the new FB Pro '95's format.  

VIII. Playnaming Conventions

Most of the offensive plays included in FPS Football Pro '95 
were named using a particular naming convention. 

1. There is a 4 letter description of the formation; for 
   example, TWNG is the tripwing.frm formation.
   
   The formations' abbreviated names are:

            3WRIFORM       3WRI
            DUBLWING       DBLW
            F3WRIFRM       F3WI
            FDBLWING       FDBW
            FI_FORM        FI_F
            FI_SLOT        FI_S
            FLONBACK       FLNE
            FNEAR          FNER
            FOPPOSIT       FOPP
            FPRO_SET       FPRO
            FSHOTGUN       FSHT
            FSPREAD        FSPR
            FTRIPWNG       FTRP
            I_FORM         I_FM
            I_SLOT         I_SL
            LONEBACK       LONE
            NEAR           NEAR
            OPPOSIT        OPPO
            PRO_SET        PROS
            SHOTGUN        SHOT
            SPREAD         SPRD
            TRIPWING       TWNG
   
2. Next is a description of R/P for run or pass.

3. Next is a description of any motion, or no motion:
   S=shift M=motion B=both N=none.

4. Next is the play ID number. 01 02 03 04 etc...
   Examples of multiple TWNG*.ply files:
           TWNGPB01.ply
           TWNGPN02.ply
           TWNGPM03.ply
           TWNGPS04.ply

VIV. Miscellaneous

1. REVEAL FB Pro Samples: The special "sample" CD versions of 
   Front Page Sports: Football Pro that were included with many 
   REVEAL CD players will NOT upgrade to Football Pro '95.

2. NFL Licensed Art: Only newly-created leagues that only 
   contain teams from valid NFL leagues (NFLPA*.*), will 
   retain the NFL helmets, insignia, and endzone art for 
   the teams. For example, if you choose NEW LEAGUE, then 
   SELECT TEAMS, and then replace every DEFAULT team with one 
   from the NFLPA94 league, then all teams in that 
   league will retain their NFL insignias, etc. 
   However, if even one team in the league is not replaced 
   and remains a team from the DEFAULT league (Dynamix League)
   then it will not be a valid NFL league, and NONE of 
   the teams will retain the NFL insignias, etc.

3. Draft Profiles: The DRAFT PROFILES are only used by the teams 
   to do the initial draft when you start a new league using a 
   common draft pool. They are not used during the college or 
   supplemental draft at the end of each season.

4. Substitution: To substitute for special teams players, you must 
   first click on the special teams play in which you want to 
   substitute a player, then click on "SUBSTITUTION". The players 
   for that play will then appear in the scroll box, and can be 
   subbed out. (This is true for subbing players in any play.)

5. Detail: There are four stadium types included with Football 
   Pro '95. If you select "None" for stadium type, the crowds 
   will automatically be turned off. If you only want to turn 
   off the crowds in the stands, but wish to retain the stadium, 
   click on the "Crowds" check box in the Detail Settings Screen.

6. There is no PC speaker sound available in Football Pro '95.

7. The wind meter that appears on the scoreboard is oriented
   like the points of the compass (left is west, right is east,
   up is north, etc). The wind meter that appears with the kick 
   meter is oriented towards the kicker. So if the flag points
   toward you, the wind is blowing toward the kicker.

8. Correction on Page 136 of the manual: The text states that
   the default NFLPA leagues are single-season leagues. 
   They are actually career leagues.

9. Correction on Page 77 of the manual: The text states: 
   
   *[E] toggles player detail. This should be the [F5] key. 
   
   *[T] rewinds replays to the beginning. This should be the 
    [B] key. 

10. If the intro music does not play on the CD version, 
    check that you have a CD-Audio cable connected from your 
    sound card to your CD drive or a separate set of speakers 
    connected to your CD drive.
 
11. If you are experiencing problems with video ONLY in the 
    play editor, please contact your video card manufacturer
    for a patch to correct this video card problem. 
    If the manufacturer of your card has not done a patch, 
    contact Sierra Technical Support for assistance.

12. Using disk caching programs other than SmartDrive with 
    Football Pro '95 is NOT recommended.

13. If there are unoccupied Active Assigned slots in your roster,
    you can only select a player for the position for which there 
    are too few players. For example, if you have enough players for 
    every Assigned position, but only have one QB, and you have one 
    unoccupied Active Assigned slot, you must pick a QB. If you try
    to pick up a player of another position, you will also have 
    to drop a player of the same position from your roster.


If you continue to experience any problems, or if you have any questions
concerning any of the above steps, our Technical Support Team will be
more than happy to assist you.  Please call (206) 644-4343 between 8:15 a.m.
and 4:45 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Friday,   We can be
reached by Fax at (206) 644-7697, or by mail at the following address:

Sierra On-Line
P.O. BOX 85006 
Bellevue, WA 98015-8506
Attention: Technical Support

You can also reach our Technical Support Team on one of the following
services:

Sierra BBS          (206) 644-0112    
Compuserve          GO SIERRA
America Online    Keyword: Sierra

Please outline the problems along with the specific information about your 
computer system, and we will gladly respond to your letter, Fax, or BBS 
message as soon as possible.  When contacting us by Fax, or BBS please 
allow 24-48 hours for turnaround.  During weekends or holidays, there may 
be some delays.

To better serve our European customers with technical problems and disk 
replacements, Sierra U.K Customer Support or Coktel Customer Support can 
be reached at the following address:

Sierra On-Line Limited                  Coktel Vision
Unit 2, Theale Technology Centre,       Parc Tertiaire de Meudon
Station Road                            Immeuble "Le Newton"
Theale, Berkshire RG7 4AA               25 rue Jeanne Braconnier
United Kingdom                          92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex
[44] 1-734-303171                       France
                                        Main: (33) 1-46-01-4650
  

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