Updated Madden Playbooks! 2023-

[TheRareButter]

EDIT: THERE IS A BETTER WAY TO UPDATE PLAYBOOKS

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23595&p=149092#p149092

THIS PROJECT IS NOW OPEN SOURCE, PLEASE USE IT AND EXPAND/EDIT UPON ITS BASE FOR FUTURE PROJECTS.

I started this project because I wanted updated playbooks playable for non coach mode purposes (Superstar ftw) and nobody was willing to make them. I had some free time so figured I'd just do it myself. I spent about 2 weeks day and night studying all the info I could find on here as I began, learned even more things along the way and I'm extremely proud of how well these playbooks play in game. If you want to know all the details of these playbooks, read the "Gridiron Notes" here.

I recommend using cmp66's Coaches Slider Adjustment in NZA's editor with these playbooks for better realism.

Each offensive playbook has 150 plays minimum, all plays are made from scratch and tested for errors (results may vary on a situation to situation basis) based off the playbooks at Madden School. They are admittedly generalized playbooks but in addition to each teams philosophy they will have their own feel and play style. While making these I've learned that various formations have different names despite being the exact same formation, so either EA is staying true to team terminologies or they're BSing their formation titles. They makes these formations then inject the exact same plays into them based off concept. (Slants, Flood, Verticals, Screens, etc) Every team has some of the same concepts within every formation in their playbook. EA really got lazy on the playbooks these days.

I really tried to reinvent the wheel. There's a bunch of little things coded into these books that really bring them to life in a realistic way. These books were built with CPU emphasis and realistic gameplay in mind. I'm particularly proud of the CPU HB screen plays.

I got super hyped working on it, it's really cool to see things like this in M08. Here's the CPU running "The Philly Special". And here's a highlight reel of some of the cool plays included in this project. (Below if your browser can view it, disable secure connection with the lock icon on your browsers search bar to view)



This project is directly compatible with Madden 07. It's also compatible with 06 and 05 if you delete all the motion plays. Edit it in the Madden 08 in game editor. Madden 06 doesn't use motion in the same manner as 07/08 so it will crash if you don't remove them. Once every playbook is done I'll have a simple plug and play GAMEDATA file for everyone to drop into their M08 documents as well as individual playbook releases.

I recommend adjusting your game speed alongside these playbooks for a almost exact replication of modern title's gameplay, but in Madden 08. I think 70ACC plays best. You will need to adjust your sliders 100%.

If any playbook guru's have any ideas on NFL Head Coach 06 playbook editing let me know, here's a specific thread for that topic. I'll be converting these for Madden 06 compatibility as well.

Code: Select all

To swap playbooks open DFR, and load up the GAMEDATA file you'd like to use. With Zero Based Arrays checkmarked, click the file number of the playbook of your choice and select replace file with selected file. Find and select the playbook you downloaded from this thread and click replace, then save the GAMEDATA File.

Here are the team file locations:

1-38 for Defense PB      41-79 for Offense PB

1 -  Bears              41 - Bears
2 -  Bengals           42 - Bengals
3 -  Bills                43 - Bills
4 -  Broncos          44 - Broncos
5 -  Browns           45 - Browns
6 -  Bucaneers      46 - Bucaneers     
7 -  Cardinals       47 - Cardinals
8 -  Chargers        48 - Chargers
9 -  Chiefs            49 - Chiefs
10 - Colts             50 - Colts   
11 - Cowboys       51 - Cowboys
12 - Dolphins       52 - Dolphins
13 - Eagles          53 - Eagles
14 - Falcons        54 - Falcons
15 - 49ers            55 - 49ers
16 - Giants          56 - Giants
17 - Jaguars         57 - Jaguars
18 - Jets              58 - Jets
19 - Lions            59 - Lions         
20 - Packers        60 - Packers
21 - Panthers      61 - Panthers
22 - Patriots        62 - Patriots
23 - Raiders        63 - Raiders
24 - Rams           64 - Rams
25 - Ravens        65 - Ravens
26 - Redskins      66 - Redskins
27 - Saints          67 - Saints
28 - Seahawks     68 - Seahawks
29 - Steelers       69 - Steelers
30 - Titans          70 - Titans
31 - Vikings         71 - Vikings
32 - Texans         72 - Texans



[TheRareButter]

HOW TO EDIT THESE PLAYBOOKS YEAR TO YEAR:

(for personal use, not to be redistributed.)

How to remove/add plays:

1. Add the playbook you want to edit as a STOCK playbook, meaning swap it in DFR with another teams playbook, and open up the in game madden editor. There you will be able to see every play and formation for every team in the game. Don't upload the playbook specifically, find it through the games playbook database within the in game editor.

2. Find the playbook and plays you want to remove/add, click remove/add play and save. There's a 75 play limit though, so you'll need to divide it into 2 playbook files and then merger them in Playbook Merger. Keep track of what formations each playbook has then import them into one book.


How to add formations:

1. Download and Install Playbook Merger. It only works on old windows versions, and it's a major pain to get working but once it's all ready it's a simple task.

Madden_Playbook_Merger_v2.0.7z

Playbook Merger

(111.54 KiB) Downloaded 386 times

If this file ever corrupts, here's a backup: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ClDuUl ... sp=sharing

2. If you're on windows 10 like most of us you'll need a virtual machine to run and older version of windows, I can confirm it works with Windows XP. If Playbook Merger works for your system already skip this step. If not, Here's a step by step guide on installing a windows virtual machine (like an emulator).

3. Once you've configured all that you'll need to link your PC to your virtual PC. Here's a guide for that. I recommend the "shared files" method.

4. Share your Playbook Merger app and whatever playbooks you want to edit into that shared folder on your virtual box and install Playbook Merger on your newly emulated Windows XP.

5. Open up Playbook Merger and open the playbook your want to add a formation into, then open the playbook that has the formation you want. Click on the formation, then export and regroup all the formations. (Madden only allows around 160-180 plays without compressing them. Compressing disables the ability to edit playbooks so don't do that.) The formation and all it's plays are now in your new playbook.

6. After swapping formations, you'll need to re-do your playbook playcalling AI. Here's the AI groups guideline (txt) for Offense with PBE 1.2. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ee6nAP ... sp=sharing

7. In order to edit AI you must first open the playbook in the in game editor then save, otherwise it will crash.

I personally use PBE 2.5 because I couldn't find a way to assign PBAI as quickly with the other one, and it has a editable PBAI CSV file that I've updated to the latest finding's on what slot holds what type of plays. Meaning the editor itself now shows the updated tags when assigning plays instead of the OG one's released with the editor way back when it was released.

Here's PBE 2.5:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Here's the latest PBAI finding's edited into PBE 2.5, just replace the OFFDefinitions file in the PBAI Folder with this new one:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rESH7v ... sp=sharing

How to remove formations:

1. Download Goal Line Only Playbook Template: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlGcMd ... sp=sharing

2. Open it up in Playbook Merger and the playbook you want formations from.

3. Simply don't export the formations you don't want into the Goal Line Only Template, only the ones you want to keep. Technically we're not "removing", we're not including. But the result is the same.

4. Open and save the playbook in the in game editor.

5. Build the AI using either PBE 2.5 or 1.2.


Remember just because teams have the same formations doesn't mean they have the same plays. Some plays will need to be removed with the in game editor through the stock playbook method, and then new plays will need to be created with the Madden Playbook Editor 1.2.

[TheRareButter]

NOTES FOR FUTURE REFERENCE:

There are 2 plays that are broken when flipped. I tried to fix them but couldn't make it work, so they cannot be added to the CPU play calling pool. Those plays are:

Gun-Wing Slot Offset:
Zone Fk Jet
Jet Fk Zone

Jet Sweep in general when flipped can be problematic, I've only seen these two not work when flipped. It won't crash or have your QB freeze they'll just miss the hand off and it'll be a "blown play" not a broken play and the QB will try to get up field.


I've tested every single play in this project and they all work without issue but If you find another play broken when flipped quote this post and I'll either fix it or add it to the list of plays that the CPU cannot run.

[TheRareButter]

Gridiron Notes:

OFFENSIVE PLAYBOOKS:

- Fade routes have been extended past their standard limit of 32 yards to 42 yards to prompt CPU QB's to utilize their arm strength and pass deeper to match modern day QB talent. The deeper WRs run the longer the ball will be in the air and the deeper the passing trajectory.

- WR's running routes on running plays have their speed set to 85 to preserve stamina for more important plays while still pulling DB's with them to clear a running lane.

- CPU run screen plays work well.

- Pulling lineman on screen plays pull 12 yards left or right. This stretches the defense and creates a outside lane for the HB with the blockers blocking from the outside in.

- The HB's screen route directs farther to the sideline to prevent the CPU HB from running towards the middle of the defense after the typical "Hitch" cut on screens. This ensures that the play utilizes the entire field and the HB has a directed lane of lead blocker blocking the defense coming from the middle and dictates that the QB's pass type doesn't trigger a HB catch animation that causes a complete stop, change of direction, or pulls the HB from his implied outside lane.

- CPU QB's have a 5-7 step drop from the Gun on screen plays to create a vertical stretch like in real life.

- Route runners without sharp cut routes often utilize their speed with the "Head Turn Route" code, this enforces the receiver to round his route to a slight degree and turn on the jets and visibly speed up.

- RPO's are PA pass plays.

- Read Option plays have 2 plays, one for the HB give and one for the QB Keep.

- The Ravens have "Triple Option" plays, one HB give and one QB keep. The pitch receiver has a predetermined pitch relationship route. Must use Calhoupe's Scripts for this play, the CPU will not call it.

- Every team has "The Philly Special" as apart of their goal line formation, the CPU can run it and run it well. CPU teams will only call it at the goal line to prevent breaking the game.

- Every team has been given the Goal Line formation.

- CPU run WR screen plays work decently, the WR's route is directed farther towards the sideline to make use of the full field and have and outside line with blockers blocking from the outside in. WR screen routes have been slowed to ensure proper timing with the CPU QB's time to make reads.

- HB flat routes have been modified to "Wheel" routes and angled to run downfield once they reach the sideline to prevent catching the ball out of bounds.

- HB's in pass protection will often cut block giving them better leverage to complete their blocking assignment.

- WR's will cross the entire field before breaking off their route to get open.

- Route speed has been edited to ensure correct timing on specific plays.

- Shallow routes have been given a higher probability of being targeted than deeper routes for CPU teams.

- Pulling lineman pull directly left or right and get to their assignment much quicker.

- Screen plays give the intended screen receiver 100% chance of being targeted preventing the 'off the back foot fade route throw from pressured CPU QB's. They'll either throw the screen or throw the ball away.

- Jet Sweeps have had their PLYT (Play Tag) edited to modernize the concept of the play. Madden 08 did not have jet sweep coding, it had "End Around" or "Reverse" coding. The defenses respond way too quickly to plays with those coded tags (at All Pro) often meeting the sweeping ball carrier at the LOS. They now can gain 5+ yards on a regular basis.

- Some pass Block and Release routes have been modified to ensure proper timing and positioning on specific plays that are incompatible with Madden 08's pass block coding.

- Some quick out routes and flats have been slowed to increase the chance of a completed pass in bounds on specific plays. (have seen a big impact with this adjustment from the CPU)

- HB's in pass protection have had their view angled to block from the outside on specific plays to prompt better pass blocking awareness.

- Various deep routes with wide route angle cuts (like particularly deep post routes) have been coded for WR's to turn on the jets once they reach their cut (Head Turn Route). They visibly speed up despite running their route creating a new dynamic for defenses to cover.

- QB's complete hand off fakes even after handing off the ball if the play calls for 2 hand off animations (like Zone fk Jet), freezing the defense to a degree.

- HB's and QB's run routes downfield to pull defenders away from the actual ball carrier successfully on "Read Option" plays.

- QB draw plays have increased time before running to a total of 0.5 seconds in the pocket before taking off, allowing the WR's to pull the defense downfield better.

- QB's have a 3 step drop from the gun (mimicking a 7 step from under center) on a variety of passing plays to increase the time of the CPU AI's read.

- QB's have a 2 step drop from the gun on short/short-intermediate passing concepts to allow CPU to make decent reads while also getting rid of the ball quickly.

[Kyote]

Great work on the playbooks. Thanks, for taking the time.
Love the Ravens pistol formations . . .

[TheRareButter]

Great work on the playbooks. Thanks, for taking the time.
Love the Ravens pistol formations . . .

Thanks , the Bills are next up on the list. They run a much more traditional offense according to their formations, I bet they'll have a bunch of formations and plays that can be cherry picked for every other playbook down the line.

EDIT: New discovery, revamped the Jet Sweep plays.

trey31:
DON'T use the default Madden PLYT tags for Jets/Reverses (15/16/17/18 depending on stock playbook/formation/play type), nor the 7/8 hole number in the PLRD field. Use a QB Sneak PLYT (19) or QB Kneel PLYT (37?) instead. The defense won't react immediately on the snap of the ball.

He was right, QB Run (19) makes for better jet sweeps and dedicated Read Options, the defense responds in a much more realistic way. Simple yet playbook saving fix. Re-download the file above.

[TheRareButter]

Playbooks were not built with flipped assignment logic, missed that part. Will fix and reupload tomorrow.

EDIT: Playbooks are really easy to mess up I'm learning, gotta keep close attention or everything will be off. I had a Jet Sweep play that works 100% of the time normally, but only worked 3/10 times when flipped despite having the exact same coding and player positioning. The animations are directional and don't work the same way from the other side. Thankfully there was only about 3-4 plays within 4 books featuring 160+ plays that couldn't be included in the CPU AI pool.

Completed (hopefully) BAL, ATL, and ARZ playbooks in OP. 2/10/2023

[TheRareButter]

I underestimated the power of Playbook Merger and how many teams that use the same formations. What I thought would take half a year, instead will take a few weeks. All 32 playbooks in this project have at least 100 plays except 5 of them as of 2/11/2023.

I need to add a few more shotgun formations (plus the philly special) across the league to reach the goal of 160+ plays per book, then build the AI of each. That will take some time because I'll need to hook in every single play for every playbook into the games AI, 3500+ total plays.

Offensive playbooks should be completed in about a month.

[TheRareButter]

The project is almost ready for a release. All 32 teams have over 100 plays and some have 160+, I'll need to make a few more formations then build the play calling AI. I could use some help on the AI portion if someone knows how to do it, otherwise I'll do it all myself.

Working on the Bills AI at the moment, I'll attach it once it's completed. After that, the project will halt because of a playbook merger issue that plagues the rest of the playbooks. If we can get that fixed then the playbooks should be ready within the month.

Need some help, here's the error: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1055&start=60#p148651

Here's the final 2023 Bills Offensive Playbook:

[TheRareButter]

Found a work around. Idk what the problem was but when merging formations from the completed playbooks PBE Alpha just wouldn't read them. I re-created the playbooks into multiple parts with the in game editor by swapping the default playbooks in DFR with my completed ones and adding each books plays into new playbooks and merger imported the formations fine.

New playbooks within the month!