3d Match Engine

The 3d match engine is the worst attempt at simulation football I have ever seen. The list of bugs is incredible, poor collision detection of outfield players, incredibly poor collition detection of keepers, players running away from the ball, players all of a sudden standing still ignoring the ball, players running very slowly towards the ball allowing the opposition to get there before them even though they were much closer to the ball, everytime a player tries to pick the ball up close to the touchline he will always knock it out of play no matter who it is and this is just the start of the list!

How SI can call this a simulation yet make the fundamentals of the game so horribly broken even after 2 patches is beyond me.

There is no excuse for this horrific shambles of a game end of.

10 minutes till closed?

yeah probably closed in 10 mins but you can't argue about the engine. A great simulation ruined by the match engine, anyone who says these problems don't exist is either blind or deluding themselves because we can all see them clear as day.

how much of this have you put in the bugs forum?

I don't see anything wrong with this person's comments. I somehow still enjoy the game but there's no doubting that these issues exist. In most sports the fan can boo the product on the field without facing penalty. This person was simply stating a fact that should not need to be addressed in the bugs forum because anyone that knows anything about football knows that what we are seeing is not ordinary or realistic. Yet again, I applaud SI's efforts trying to add an element to the game thats been missing for years and I have no doubt that this will get fixed in time.

Why does 3d not work on my compo? I click it to be used on my preferences yet it doesn't even come up as an option.

When I try and use 2d its stupidly slow loading to 'TV mode', whatever that is, so I just don't bother and just use only match commentary, otherwise it's just well slow.. so I'm guessing it's just my computer...

Why does 3d not work on my compo? I click it to be used on my preferences yet it doesn't even come up as an option.

When I try and use 2d its stupidly slow loading to 'TV mode', whatever that is, so I just don't bother and just use only match commentary, otherwise it's just well slow.. so I'm guessing it's just my computer...

You are probably right.

You have to remember that this is SI's first attempt at a 3D view so it isn't going to be perfect. Was EA's first 3D game as good as it is now?

It will improve in the future and will soon be a very attractive view and the football will be even more life-like.

The jump to 3D was always going to mean that it put strains on peoples comps and certain people wouldn't b able to handle it without upgrading. The simple fact of the matter is, tough. Unfortunately, the game was always going to move on and leave some of us behind, i'd have liked them to stick with 2D, but at the end of the day SI have to try and take the game forward and a lot of people were desperate for 3D.

Grim80,

The stuff about "collision detection" suggests you don't quite understand the way the match engine works. In FM, the match engine is the series of calculations under the graphics, meaning the calculation feed the graphical representation on-screen. For "collision detection" it would have to work the other way round, ie, when players collide in the graphics, this changes the ME's calculation. It's a graphical issue not an ME problem - collisions calculations work fine, but they just appear not to.

I won't argue about the *quality* of the graphics. It's essentially the old 2D view, tilted, with some added animation, but I won't go back to 2D now it's working on my PC. It's a bit of a smokescreen, but it's a good smokescreen compared to previous versions. It will, I am confident, get better as the series progresses. They just need to iron out some more serious problems first, IMO.

The 3d match engine is the worst attempt at simulation football I have ever seen. The list of bugs is incredible, poor collision detection of outfield players, incredibly poor collition detection of keepers, players running away from the ball, players all of a sudden standing still ignoring the ball, players running very slowly towards the ball allowing the opposition to get there before them even though they were much closer to the ball, everytime a player tries to pick the ball up close to the touchline he will always knock it out of play no matter who it is and this is just the start of the list!

How SI can call this a simulation yet make the fundamentals of the game so horribly broken even after 2 patches is beyond me.

There is no excuse for this horrific shambles of a game end of.

I don't get any of these problems, I am playing the boxed version, no patches. I watch the full match in classic view elevated and it works fine and is very realistic apart from a few of the goalkeepers moves. I would never go back to 2D

Backpackant,

Yes I understand completely what you are saying but is there any point in having a 3d match when it appears so obviously unrealistic on screen? I mean how many times do you see your player get infront of the opposition player with the ball and you think obviuosly he will tackle him as according to the 3d engine your player has muscled past him only for him to 'dither' then end up doing nothing but kind of running at a strange angle next to him? Its really frustrating to watch and makes it all feel very unrealistic even if underneath the graphics the match engine has realistically calculated it. Like when you see the keeper saving a shot when the ball was nowhere near him, he dives and the ball is aiming for the corner only for it to be 'saved' though the keeper was not touching it. I don't see the point in playing when it is like this because after all I'm trying to play a game that claims to simulate football but if it only simulates it underneath and doesn't represent that onscreen then how can that really be simulation!?

Some of the things that happen I can't even see how it could be well calculated but not graphically executed, fair enough on the collision detection but on the players switching off how do you explain that? Surely the match engine doesn't calculate for Mr X defender to forget that he is in the middle of a premiership game of football and a through pass has just gone by him and maybe he should consider at least turning around and attemping to run towards the ball rather than stand still like he is watching a flock of birds fly by? Or when your player decides to do that strange sideways run as if the ball is behind him yet he is indeed running towards the ball only when he does the strange sideways run he runs alot slower so the opposition player who was 10-15yards further away from the ball than him can run and get to the ball first?

If these issues are not the match engine then what are they?

Anthony wright,

You don't get any of these problems!? Clearly you havn't been playing the game extensively enough because myself and many of my friends all own and play football manager 2009 almost constantly (well I have since given up due to these obvious frustating elements in the 3d engine) and they all agree with me ( in fact my friends have highlighted some worse goings on than even I have experienced). You can't tell me you havn't experienced players knocking the ball out of play when attempting to pick the ball up close to the touchline, nor the sudden "switching off" of one of your players recieving a pass only for him to stop stand still and the ball bounces off his legs and he remains stopped. Or how about when the keeper saves the first shot the ball rebounds off to an angle, he gets up starts to track back to his goal mouth only to stop suddenly as the opposition player who got on the end of the rebound shoots tamely at goal and the ball rolls past your keepers feet while he just kind of stand there walking slowly as if nothing is going on? That is not realistic nor can I even see that as a well calculated but poorly executed (by the graphics) footballing moments.

Backpackant,

Yes I understand completely what you are saying but is there any point in having a 3d match when it appears so obviously unrealistic on screen? I mean how many times do you see your player get infront of the opposition player with the ball and you think obviuosly he will tackle him as according to the 3d engine your player has muscled past him only for him to 'dither' then end up doing nothing but kind of running at a strange angle next to him? Its really frustrating to watch and makes it all feel very unrealistic even if underneath the graphics the match engine has realistically calculated it. Like when you see the keeper saving a shot when the ball was nowhere near him, he dives and the ball is aiming for the corner only for it to be 'saved' though the keeper was not touching it. I don't see the point in playing when it is like this because after all I'm trying to play a game that claims to simulate football but if it only simulates it underneath and doesn't represent that onscreen then how can that really be simulation!?

Some of the things that happen I can't even see how it could be well calculated but not graphically executed, fair enough on the collision detection but on the players switching off how do you explain that? Surely the match engine doesn't calculate for Mr X defender to forget that he is in the middle of a premiership game of football and a through pass has just gone by him and maybe he should consider at least turning around and attemping to run towards the ball rather than stand still like he is watching a flock of birds fly by? Or when your player decides to do that strange sideways run as if the ball is behind him yet he is indeed running towards the ball only when he does the strange sideways run he runs alot slower so the opposition player who was 10-15yards further away from the ball than him can run and get to the ball first?

If these issues are not the match engine then what are they?

Anthony wright,

You don't get any of these problems!? Clearly you havn't been playing the game extensively enough because myself and many of my friends all own and play football manager 2009 almost constantly (well I have since given up due to these obvious frustating elements in the 3d engine) and they all agree with me ( in fact my friends have highlighted some worse goings on than even I have experienced). You can't tell me you havn't experienced players knocking the ball out of play when attempting to pick the ball up close to the touchline, nor the sudden "switching off" of one of your players recieving a pass only for him to stop stand still and the ball bounces off his legs and he remains stopped. Or how about when the keeper saves the first shot the ball rebounds off to an angle, he gets up starts to track back to his goal mouth only to stop suddenly as the opposition player who got on the end of the rebound shoots tamely at goal and the ball rolls past your keepers feet while he just kind of stand there walking slowly as if nothing is going on? That is not realistic nor can I even see that as a well calculated but poorly executed (by the graphics) footballing moments.

I can honestly say that the only one I have experienced is the player knocking the bal out when near the touchline, but only when under pressure. If you had read any of my previous posts yes I had major problems with the demo but sinse playing the full game 9.0 no patches no. As I said I always play elevated view (the game sems to run smoother than in TV view or main stand. I have played every manager game sinse Football manager aka Kevin Toms in the early eighties and this by far the best to date

I can honestly say that the only one I have experienced is the player knocking the bal out when near the touchline, but only when under pressure. If you had read any of my previous posts yes I had major problems with the demo but sinse playing the full game 9.0 no patches no. As I said I always play elevated view (the game sems to run smoother than in TV view or main stand. I have played every manager game sinse Football manager aka Kevin Toms in the early eighties and this by far the best to date

Well Anthony, I really don't know how you can't see these problems and having just looked at the forum on which you previously posted (how can we make the 3d engine better for 2010) I can see several people with the same complaints as me and as I said before my mates have noticed these faults too. So I'm not being offensive towards you but you must be seeing this game with Rose tinted spectacles on.

Don't get me wrong, I think SI had to move it to 3d, but I think more time, resources and testing should have gone into it rather than the usual ship the game broken and patch it over the year until it kind of works then release the new broken version and repeat the process that we have been seeing from SI over the last few years. I don't mean to be offensive towards SI either but lets be honest, have we seen a Football manager since 03/04that has been great to play out of the box?

Well Anthony, I really don't know how you can't see these problems and having just looked at the forum on which you previously posted (how can we make the 3d engine better for 2010) I can see several people with the same complaints as me and as I said before my mates have noticed these faults too. So I'm not being offensive towards you but you must be seeing this game with Rose tinted spectacles on.

Don't get me wrong, I think SI had to move it to 3d, but I think more time, resources and testing should have gone into it rather than the usual ship the game broken and patch it over the year until it kind of works then release the new broken version and repeat the process that we have been seeing from SI over the last few years. I don't mean to be offensive towards SI either but lets be honest, have we seen a Football manager since 03/04that has been great to play out of the box?

Hi Grim80

I didn't think you were being offensive, and you obviously are expering problems. I was just giving you an honest account of my experience to date, I did say in one of my other posts that perhaps these things will manifest themselves at a later date. I think I have been quite critical of SI in the past and I was very disapointed when I first played the demo and yes I do believe there has been some lazy programming and coding and yes I was frustrated with players just standing on the ball and not moving in the demo, when I first played the full game I was waiting for this to happen but up to now it hasn't and to me the majority of players behave as I would expect them to behave IRL (I have been attending football matches on a regular basis for over 40 years so I am not a novice in this respect). As I have mentioned the only thing that frustrates me a little is the behaviour of the goalkeepers they never seem to hang on to the ball when making a save and never seem to kick the ball out of their hands but drop it onto the ground before clearing upfield, but I think this is something that SI will improve over time I just wonder if the problems are causd by the graphics card not the specs of the card but the actual make of the card and its performance, because I had very similer problems with Total club manager a few years ago until I bought a new laptop with a different graphics card. I do find that my graphics card performs quite well for its size for example when I play another game called tower simulator the specs ask for a 256 graphics card but I have no problems running it even though mine is only 128 and I know people who have 256 and the game runs very jerkely.