Multiplat AFL Evolution 2

The below was posted on WW forums few days ago, gives some info on the state of PC vs console versions (waiting for update):

https://www.wickedsports.com.au/community/afl-evolution-2/afl-evolution-2-pc-release-notes

PC Specific

Exclusive to steam, players will be able to enjoy AFL Evolution 2 in 4K resolution and 60+ frames per second. Hardware is your limit for enjoying the game on Steam. PC gamers will continue to enjoy fresh fixes and updates as the WW team continues to build the most authentic AFL gaming experience.

My 8 year old pc beats the minimum and recommended system requirements and I got a 2080ti last week (which makes the first Evolution seem as though it plays in fast forward mode!), can't wait to see how Evolution 2 plays on my pc!
 

Roo Beauty

Norm Smith Medallist
May 16, 2015
8,426
19,592
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Anyone play on 10 min quarters can it result in realistic scores or are the scores too big ?
Way too big in my experience. 7.5mins almost always gives me realistic scores, although I often play slower tempo footy at times like a real match instead of hell-for-leather, so 7.5 is still too high for some. See how you go on 7.5 first I think.
 
The pc version is what I wish the console version(s) were - in terms of smoothness in game play and frame rate. My pc is old (well new video card as of last week), yet it still beats the minimum/recommended system requirements. Thus like Evolution 1, it behaves in a manner where the speed/pace of the game is a lot faster than it SHOULD be (granted I know the game speed in Evo 2 is fast and there's no way to change it other than altering the overall running speed sliders in the options). I used a frame rate limiter to solve it in Evolution 1. The same method hasn't worked for Evolution 2, so I need faster reflexes to time marks correctly. It plays and looks great, for the budget the developers have.... its never going to be a fifa or 2k title.

The grass looks average, I preferred how it looked in Evolution 1.... this one looks like a bad spray paint job haha. Probably because of the "upgraded" textures, it didn't look this blinding on the Xbox version of Evo 2.

I noticed the new in game cutscenes (such as the umpire talking to the player after a mark or a free kick)..... similar to when you could kick the ball into the player on the mark (or even kicking it into a player in general play) the people in the cutscene can get "stuck" together it looks very awkward. As does this screenshot (saw it happen 6 times in the one game

tpTgZBP.png



dLq7Zsw.png


Scoreline certainly reflects the 2020 season that's for sure haha.


Other positives - I like how the game just starts at the title screen, it abandons the usual copyright screen information and developers logos etc.
What's weird is I have to hit enter to get past the title screen and not use the controller. Yet when the menu pops up the controller finally kicks into gear and away I go.
 

Tbonefreo

Norm Smith Medallist
Feb 13, 2013
7,900
10,146
Wagga
AFL Club
Fremantle
These clips don't present the game in the best possible light. I swear it's down to my video encoding settings. The raw gameplay is ultra smooth. I also originally did this to showcase how fast the game moves.... alas the video encode slowed that down as well LOL




It does look fun.

Does it still send random small dudes into the ruck?
 

shev76

Rookie
Oct 24, 2012
35
71
AFL Club
Carlton
decided to give this another run on PS4 in the hope there might have been patch of some sort.

doesnt look like anythings changed. players still kicking from the back pocket to a contest 30m out from goal and even when you go forward deciding to kick it 20m backwards when they can have set shot. The AI is still shocking
 
These clips don't present the game in the best possible light. I swear it's down to my video encoding settings. The raw gameplay is ultra smooth. I also originally did this to showcase how fast the game moves.... alas the video encode slowed that down as well LOL





I think it looks like the PC version may have benefited the most from the unreal engine move from what I've seen around.

Evo 1 was a mess even with strong preforming systems and took ages to get right. So much so I went consoels this time around thinking it would happen again.
 
I think it looks like the PC version may have benefited the most from the unreal engine move from what I've seen around.

Evo 1 was a mess even with strong preforming systems and took ages to get right. So much so I went consoels this time around thinking it would happen again.

I had a few hiccups with Evo1 - main one being that the game wouldn't even launch when I started it in Steam :p. Once it worked, it was fan-bloody-tastic. I thought it was great on console but admittedly the frame rate wasn't the best. The pc version fixed that and (I felt) the graphics were a lot more cleaner.... still not EA/FIFA quality, but pretty good none the less.

Evo 2 on pc is very similar. The console versions didn't have the best launch (extremely rough frame rate being the main thing that irked me). Yes many of those issues were addressed in patches, but I held on to hope that like Evolution 1... Evolution 2 would be improved simply by being on pc and not being on a consoles limited hardware. The frame rate is TOO fast at times, hence why I've resorted to using a frame rate limiter to slow the game play down. Their system requirements are actually not that extensive (save for a recent video card, the actual system can be old as hell!).

There are a few odd game play quirks (putting it down to how the unreal engine reacts to the mechanics of Aussie rules footy), like having a kicked ball be smothered..... and the ball can sail 50ish meters away. Or being able to do Luke Hodge 2008 grand final style handballs at will :p.
 

Etto

Senior List
May 9, 2019
279
481
Ballarat
AFL Club
Geelong
Anyone know how to open the PAK file?

Going to try and get into the game files so I can edit quarter length to 6 minutes.
Did you end up learning how to do it? Im wanting to edit the goal post pads and other logos in the game
 
Did you end up learning how to do it? Im wanting to edit the goal post pads and other logos in the game
I was told it was similar to AFL Evo 1 but slight differences...so in short nope I still have no idea.
 
It's an interesting game. I've gotten some decent hours out of it now, without really even tweaking anything and I think the patches have helped (I'm on PS4).

I think speed is much more necessary of an attribute in this game than even Evo 1. I have a custom player I created in both games, and he's basically deliberately one of the slowest players in the game. A Diesel style mid, just not as good as Diesel by hand and foot. In Evo 1, this guy was able to have a good career (2 Brownlows in 10 years, multiple premiership captain) with a speed rating of just 65 (acceleration actually maxed out though, so he'd have a bit of a deceptive first few steps of burst).

In Evo 2, I've had to boost his speed attribute to at least 75 for him to really even be competitive. He made Jack Silvagni look like a speedster!
 

ptrg

Brownlow Medallist
Mar 19, 2008
13,173
11,845
Space Mountain
AFL Club
Melbourne
Damn it looks good Xtreme !
tempted to sell the Xbox and get this on my PC instead, especially for the modding side of things..

Have you tried lowering run speed, stamina, and there’s another one I cant think of right now.
even on Xbox I find I need to lower all of them (run speed is in low 10s from memory) to make it more realistic.
Annoying as it is, also editing players individual Running stats helps create overlaps, mismatches, and all round more realistic play (rather than just 1v1s all over the ground, and everyone just smashing into contests).

What would be cool is if we could create a batch editor that lets us edit players stats in text format. Would save so much time, and allow us to create a bigger discrepancy between the good and average, fast and slow, good marks and butterhands.
 
It plays smoother than the video uploaded (gotta muck around with OBS settings more).

I adjusted the run speed for both human and cpu sides. I'll tinker a bit more (I've run the frame limiter down to 30 fps... it works to a degree but tbe stutter annoys after a while). As I said months ago WW needs to create overall game speed sliders like in Evo 1.

It's fun to play but I need to forcibly make the game harder (while not getting pinged for holding/throwing the ball every 5 seconds).
 
New PC patch was released yesterday - just updated and running a Port v Geelong simulation right now (aka ai v ai game in real time)


What's new in this update:

Gameplay:
  • Increased the difficulty of set shots. They now scale in difficulty with distance from the goal.
  • Fixed an issue with the wind indicator causing it to display the wind inaccurately in some cases.
  • AI will be less likely to attempt soccer kicks.
  • When not under pressure near goal, AI will pick up the ball instead of soccering.
  • AI will be less likely to hip and shoulder.
  • Added a gameplay slider to control soccering frequency.
  • Added a gameplay slider to control clearance kick distance.
  • Added a gameplay slider to control player set shot difficulty.



Presentation:
  • Added additional stoppage and post-replay cutscenes.
  • Added intro sequences for the day of the week.
  • Fixed facial animation for some cutscenes.
  • Updates to stadium appearance and cheersquad locations.
  • Updated crowd appearance.
  • Updated field sponsors.
  • Added options to turn off individual cutscene types.


Career + Competition:
  • Fixed an issue where players from the human team could go directly to the draft, causing them not to retire.
  • Uncontracted players have an increasing chance to retire with age.
  • Fixed an issue with AI teams hiring too many delisted free agents causing them to be unable to draft.
  • Fixed an issue causing young player awards to be given to players who are too old.
  • Fixed a crash when deleting emails.
  • Coach - Fixed an issue causing constant emails about poor finances.
  • Coach - Fixed an issue where the AI would counter-offer a trade with nothing.
  • Competition - Added the 2020 17 match fixture as an option.
  • Competition - Added the ability to change the away team lineup when both teams are human controlled.
  • Rookie+Listed - Added the ability to change player guernsey numbers.
  • Rookie+Listed - Added career goals to the Career History screen.


Online:
  • Increased player responsiveness for clients.
  • Fixed visual popping of players.
  • Fixed ball shadow being incorrect.
  • Fixed leaderboard exploits with closing the game.
  • Fixed a rare issue where players could not be tackled.


Misc:
  • Added a shortcut button to access team management from the pause menu.
  • Can change team lineup of opponent in single match when there is only one player.
  • Fixed Match Centre games having incorrect lighting.
  • Fixed an issue with Match Centre captains.
  • Fixed an issue with the Match Centre ladder percentages.
  • Fixed an issue with Evo Data update affecting players copied from a listed player.
  • Fixed an issue with trying to download certain teams from FanHub.
  • Various other bug fixes and improvements.
 

ptrg

Brownlow Medallist
Mar 19, 2008
13,173
11,845
Space Mountain
AFL Club
Melbourne
Yay for them implementing the soccer fixes! Both a slider, and more AI picking up the ball. good stuff.

Also reducing clearance kick distance is sweet.

and hopefully it works, but difficulty of goal kicking base don angle and distance? The one we’ve all been waiting for! Hopefully the individual player‘s goal kicking skills change the base setting, and then difficulty scales off there for each player.
 
Yay for them implementing the soccer fixes! Both a slider, and more AI picking up the ball. good stuff.

Also reducing clearance kick distance is sweet.

and hopefully it works, but difficulty of goal kicking base don angle and distance? The one we’ve all been waiting for! Hopefully the individual player‘s goal kicking skills change the base setting, and then difficulty scales off there for each player.

Actually from what I can tell (mucked around with sliders earlier), the kicking difficulty is basically the kicking bar being either mostly green (re: NEVER miss) or make it nearly impossible (1mm of green in the meter meaning set shot goals are almost impossible lol). Unless that was already in the game and I neglected to use it.

I know it was annoying having the AI soccer off the ground a lot, I haven't touched the sliders for it *yet* but from what I can tell, the AI has reverted to a more Evolution 1 (clueless) approach. Now instead of soccering off the ground in front of goal, they try to pick it up 90% of the time :-/. It's like they don't leave themselves enough space (eg: in the goal square) by the time the animation of them picking up the ball happens.... they've already crossed the goal line!!
 
New PC patch was released yesterday - just updated and running a Port v Geelong simulation right now (aka ai v ai game in real time)


What's new in this update:

Gameplay:
  • Increased the difficulty of set shots. They now scale in difficulty with distance from the goal

I give full credit to WW for continuing to work on this game despite the fact that these added patches are hardly going to increase sales for a now old game that much.

However, how the hell is this something that needed to be patched? What game design decision ever led to this being omitted?
 
Dec 8, 2006
11,477
29,805
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
I know it was annoying having the AI soccer off the ground a lot, I haven't touched the sliders for it *yet* but from what I can tell, the AI has reverted to a more Evolution 1 (clueless) approach. Now instead of soccering off the ground in front of goal, they try to pick it up 90% of the time :-/. It's like they don't leave themselves enough space (eg: in the goal square) by the time the animation of them picking up the ball happens.... they've already crossed the goal line!!

All they need to do is add something that says the AI will only soccer when close enough to goal that the picking up the ball animation will result in the player crossing the line.

Simples.

Will eliminate them playing soccer in the forward 50 (infuriating) or trying to pick up the ball and running it over the line (which would also be infuriating but this patch isn't on consoles yet for some reason so I don't actually know).
 

ptrg

Brownlow Medallist
Mar 19, 2008
13,173
11,845
Space Mountain
AFL Club
Melbourne
All they need to do is add something that says the AI will only soccer when close enough to goal that the picking up the ball animation will result in the player crossing the line.

Simples.

Will eliminate them playing soccer in the forward 50 (infuriating) or trying to pick up the ball and running it over the line (which would also be infuriating but this patch isn't on consoles yet for some reason so I don't actually know).

they just replied to my question on console patch by saying it’s close, and they are adding a few additional things.
I maintain I’d prefer no soccering at all over what’s currently in the game. Much rather dumb AI running it over the line occasionally like Evo1 than every goal being a heat seeking soccer missile.
 
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