Best FIFA 16 gameplay simulation settings are here. Best football game ever!

Remember, not all sliders are carved in stone. If you find improvements and some other settings suit your playing style better, don't hesitate to share them.

If you start a season or tournament remember to include that cmsettings.ini to prevent excessive tournament fatigue.
 
I think the last lines of the cl.ini (from []//CHEATING to the end) are a must have.
They signifanly change the way the cpu play both defensively and offensively.
It does what it says. The cpu doesn't read your input anymore but react to what is going on on the pitch. As a consequence dribbling is safier but absolutely not OP and the CPU is more prone to bad timing and giving fouls. The best part in my opinion is the impact it has on the cpu build up. It really feels more natural and with a purpose, as opposed to the wizard escaping either with dribbling or quick passing the cpu used before. The cpu takes a bit more time before making its decision which looks better (also animations wise) and makes pressing way more rewarding than before. It is also like the cpu relys more on what their teammates are doing rather than what little mistake you made that it can exploit. I have seen build up attempts I had never seen before. I really liked my gaming session tonight.
 
Guys, I was about to delete all my Fifa 16 game Folder with many different great Patches for this game like EEP, Moddingway, Fifa Argentina etc. Pure accidentally that I found this great topic while looking for some PES 2021 mods. I played Fifa 16 long after release without that cursed heavy scripted Frostbite ENgine gameplay shit from EA that find it´s climax in this years Fifa 21! Such an awful gameplay feels like Volta when some second class defender dribbles you out for no reason to do so. Wanna just say I am about to consider my decision to delete Fifa 16 from my PC cause of your thread @El Pajaro. I previously played a while with the settings and recommendations from CiaiS 2 years ago. I really liked the gp, but after a while I lost Interest again and forgot about it. So nice you rolled it up again. I didn´t thought such tweaks are possible for an yeah a little bit old game and having your descripted effects. So yeah I will try it out to look if the game will be improved with it. Nice to see @Ciais taking also part on this thread!
 
Thank you for the thread, @El Pajaro. I had gone through dozens/hundreds of pages in the Discussion thread to build my current version of Fifa - It's great to have a precise, concise version of the information for a change.

I've always strayed away from the gameplay/DB changes (apart from tweaking the matchintensity table) because I don't think you can play Career Mode with database modifications, correct? It would mean Youth Academy players would be overpowered? Can you confirm this?

If so, it would be great to add a what this gameplay mod can or can't do in the first post? I'll leave these tips here any way for info's sake. I don't want to be seen as hijacking this thread or giving unsolicited advice.

Some other things that would add to the great info you have already provided -

1. Game EXE 1.0 vs 1.01. People should be aware how easy it is to download the Super Deluxe version of the game and play with 1.0 for a close to demo experience. (obviously it isn't piracy as you need a legal copy for Origin checks to pass). Maybe we can post a link or hose our own torrent? @papinho81 had added some great context here comparing the two versions:
https://evo-web.co.uk/threads/fifa-16-news-discussion-thread.75194/page-225

2. What is the bare minimum you need to do to get the best out of the game:
i.e. - The right sliders, tweaking matchintensity, adding necessary lines in cl.ini and cmsettings
This bare minimum will allow a player to start on the path of 'simulation' in Exhibition, Tournament and Career Mode.
papinho's folder shared with Chris has some bare essentials I feel (All info provided in the readme files)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/u4x3vpdafg8vngd/Chris.rar/file

Then we could expand on the 'ultimate' simulation experience which includes the DB changes in your post, with the caveat being added that you can't play Career Mode due to DB changes. (Feel free to correct me here)

Also, we should take into account @Chris Davies excellent posts way back in 2015. He had figured out the game settings back then:
Here are his sliders (Probably for 1.00 or 1.01):
https://evo-web.co.uk/threads/fifa-16-slider-thread.75656/page-2

He had suggested playing Legendary in some situations and Pro in others, because in a game of football, you need those 6-0 victories sometimes.

We could maybe add an FAQ of what this game can or can't be to keep the expectations in check. For example:

1. This game doesn't have any team ID and you cannot tweak much with any gameplay modifications. The opposition will play tiki taka in most matches and have a high passing success. Just ignore those stats.
2. The game also has scripting which can't be removed through any cl.ini settings. Matches against a rival will be sped up and weird things will happen. Cup games in Career Mode will always be made 'artificially tougher' by slowing down your players, passes, increasing lack of AI response to situations. Like when you pass to a player not far away, the player will take one step away from the ball to let the AI opposition player to intercept the pass. All these things happen in a much higher degree in the latest FiFas and PES's though, so it isn't game breaking - also you can still play defensively and get away from scripted matches with 0-0 draws sometimes - it's all about reacting to the first 10-15 minutes of a match - you'd know whether it's scripted or not.

What this game does provide though is a fun, random experience of 22 ragdolls battling for the ball and having the feeling of no two matches being the same - which newer games can't match.
 
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I play 16 since 2017 active.
Game is really good and enjoyable. You can feel the game. Best thing is that after so many years have random gameplay stuff. I love random goals.

Biggest minus for me is shooting. But i mean low ground shooting. It has to be more power and faster (like many PL goals).
Outside box shooting is ok.
 
I played some matches today with every tweak and setting here suggested and it´s really a difference compare to exe 1.07. The only thing what is not clear enough for me which exe I should use?! The 1.00 or the 1.01? I just played with the 1.00 exe. Also I tweaked my DB with Gameplayerz tool etc. What I really wonder is the fact the Player animations by passing the ball looks and feel much more natural as without the tweaks. The fouls are much more and the battle about the ball one on one is more intense. I played my first match with Bayern Munich. After 3 Minutes ( means in game time ) I passed the ball to Lewangoalski, he runs 2 Meter inside the box and Arsenal´s Koscielny pull him down with his arm. Penalty! :D
I play the Moddingway Patch, that´s the reason why Koscielny are still in Arsenal Squad. ;-)
Must test some more games, will starting soon a Career mode. But first I must import the "Matchintensity.txt" in my DB and I will try the Career mod which @axmac has posted. I usually have my own simsetting, cmsetting, Trainingsattribute ini where I can train Speed and acceleration. But you Guys know that kind of inis.
Looks really promising what this Thread had to offer and what I could tested.
 
Byronic said:
I played some matches today with every tweak and setting here suggested and it´s really a difference compare to exe 1.07. The only thing what is not clear enough for me which exe I should use?! The 1.00 or the 1.01? I just played with the 1.00 exe. Also I tweaked my DB with Gameplayerz tool etc. What I really wonder is the fact the Player animations by passing the ball looks and feel much more natural as without the tweaks. The fouls are much more and the battle about the ball one on one is more intense. I played my first match with Bayern Munich. After 3 Minutes ( means in game time ) I passed the ball to Lewangoalski, he runs 2 Meter inside the box and Arsenal´s Koscielny pull him down with his arm. Penalty! :D
I play the Moddingway Patch, that´s the reason why Koscielny are still in Arsenal Squad. ;-)
Must test some more games, will starting soon a Career mode. But first I must import the "Matchintensity.txt" in my DB and I will try the Career mod which @axmac has posted. I usually have my own simsetting, cmsetting, Trainingsattribute ini where I can train Speed and acceleration. But you Guys know that kind of inis.
Looks really promising what this Thread had to offer and what I could tested.
Click to expand...

Don't sweat over the exes. Any of 1.00 or 1.01 should do fine. Any tests we do are always going to be limited because there are many variables which EA turns on or off in some matches. So you need a large sample size to really draw any conclusions. I don't think we have as much control over this game as we think we do.
But what I find makes a huge difference, even more than Professional vs Legendary is Tactical vs Legacy Defending. Legacy makes the game much easier to play for me and stops the CPU from attacking as much, because 1 - they react to the user playing with Tactical by just going for it knowing we don't have a lot of control. For example, while playing against Liverpool at Anfield, I'd turn Tactical Defending on and have 10 shots and 2 goals against me in the first half. That's on Professional. Very realistic. But turn on Legacy defending and I can have a much closer 0-0. Maybe I'm just horrible at Tactical Defending.

But the point to note is - there is no one size fits all in this game. Everything is context based. So if you want realistic scorelines, make slight changes before every match. I had a great Career Mode first season where I came 4th as Arsenal and won the Europa League. It was using Legendary, Legacy Defending, 6 minute halfs. I found Big 6 opposition tough, as it should be. The only issue was I only scored like 47 goals in 38 matches, while also only conceding 20 (Least among all teams). I might try reducing to Professional in Home matches against lower ranked teams so that I can rack up the goal difference a bit more next season, while also playing with Tactical Defending against Man City, Liverpool away from home.
 
ndut92 said:
Very interesting. downloading it now through origin to test this out =D
Click to expand...
Same to me, I signed in at Origin yesterday for the EA Play membership. Only 4 € a month or only 25 € for 12 months. But if you already have an account and bought Fifa 16 before they kick it out from Origin you are good to go.
 
Byronic said:
Same to me, I signed in at Origin yesterday for the EA Play membership. Only 4 € a month or only 25 € for 12 months. But if you already have an account and bought Fifa 16 before they kick it out from Origin you are good to go.
Click to expand...
EA must charge American users double. Those crooks. I am curious to see how this is because I actually feel like I don't remember much about FIFA 16. I don't even mind playing with older rosters for the time being. Seeing the older Bayern team would be nostalgic =D
 
axmac said:
Don't sweat over the exes. Any of 1.00 or 1.01 should do fine. Any tests we do are always going to be limited because there are many variables which EA turns on or off in some matches. So you need a large sample size to really draw any conclusions. I don't think we have as much control over this game as we think we do.
But what I find makes a huge difference, even more than Professional vs Legendary is Tactical vs Legacy Defending. Legacy makes the game much easier to play for me and stops the CPU from attacking as much, because 1 - they react to the user playing with Tactical by just going for it knowing we don't have a lot of control. For example, while playing against Liverpool at Anfield, I'd turn Tactical Defending on and have 10 shots and 2 goals against me in the first half. That's on Professional. Very realistic. But turn on Legacy defending and I can have a much closer 0-0. Maybe I'm just horrible at Tactical Defending.

But the point to note is - there is no one size fits all in this game. Everything is context based. So if you want realistic scorelines, make slight changes before every match. I had a great Career Mode first season where I came 4th as Arsenal and won the Europa League. It was using Legendary, Legacy Defending, 6 minute halfs. I found Big 6 opposition tough, as it should be. The only issue was I only scored like 47 goals in 38 matches, while also only conceding 20 (Least among all teams). I might try reducing to Professional in Home matches against lower ranked teams so that I can rack up the goal difference a bit more next season, while also playing with Tactical Defending against Man City, Liverpool away from home.
Click to expand...
I agree with you of course, I must play at least a half Season to find my own "Level" I guess. The last week I bought PES 2021 after the gameplay was well tweaked from Holland´s mod thread. First time with good response of my own Players when it comes to pass and Tactical behaviour. Reminds me on Fifa games, but not the frostbite ones, a little bit like Fifa 16. :-) Thanks for pointing it out with the game exes. The "control" wish over the game is like searching the holy grale I noticed. The so called scripting is what you explained in your post before?! But what I experienced with the Fifa 16 tweaks compared to FIfa 20 or 21 is a big difference in every aspect of gameplay, team mate and AI behaviour. Well like you mentioned it needs much more match practice for an sentence finally.
 
ndut92 said:
EA must charge American users double. Those crooks. I am curious to see how this is because I actually feel like I don't remember much about FIFA 16. I don't even mind playing with older rosters for the time being. Seeing the older Bayern team would be nostalgic =D
Click to expand...
Yes of course, you hit the nail on the head! I enjoy the good old "Flügelzange" from Bayern with Robbery. :-)
But you can choose a newer Patch when you download the FIP 16 Patch from Fifa Infinity. I checked it yesterday, the newest Patch v3.2 is from 12.09.2020. When they did their homework all transfers should be done correct.
Could be a little shock for you to play old engine Fifa again. But with the tweaks here in the Forum posted I can handle it with myself that the game has here and there his little "Macken". Sorry I don´t know the english word for it. :-)
But in terms of modding it´s a class of it´s own. There are so many mods and Patches around, just great. And when I recommend you something, install all the amazing German Football Stadiums from Nisoley. That was the main reason why I often roll back to Fifa 16. Just in case you didn´t have that in planing. But yeah, first of all the game must be fun for you. ;-)
 
Byronic said:
I agree with you of course, I must play at least a half Season to find my own "Level" I guess. The last week I bought PES 2021 after the gameplay was well tweaked from Holland´s mod thread. First time with good response of my own Players when it comes to pass and Tactical behaviour. Reminds me on Fifa games, but not the frostbite ones, a little bit like Fifa 16. :-) Thanks for pointing it out with the game exes. The "control" wish over the game is like searching the holy grale I noticed. The so called scripting is what you explained in your post before?! But what I experienced with the Fifa 16 tweaks compared to FIfa 20 or 21 is a big difference in every aspect of gameplay, team mate and AI behaviour. Well like you mentioned it needs much more match practice for an sentence finally.
Click to expand...

Yes - and I must say you playing with Bayern (if I must guess) might make it all very different, because with Arsenal, I expect lots of unexpected losses and tough games and Fifa 16 does provide that realism, but with Bayern - your realistic would be 3-4 goals in most games and winning the Bundesliga at the minimum. Do let me know what settings allow you to achieve that realism while also having fun :)
 
axmac said:
Yes - and I must say you playing with Bayern (if I must guess) might make it all very different, because with Arsenal, I expect lots of unexpected losses and tough games and Fifa 16 does provide that realism, but with Bayern - your realistic would be 3-4 goals in most games and winning the Bundesliga at the minimum. Do let me know what settings allow you to achieve that realism while also having fun :)
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I will do. Of course I am obviously a Bayern supporter, but that doesn´t mean I play with them my Career mode. ;-)
To be honest I thought about Team like Atletico in LaLiga or a Premiere League Team for same reason like you mentioned with Arsenal. I don´t care if I lost some games, that is what I expect when I decide to play a Premiere League Season with a 4,5 stars team. It´s like that, if playing with Bayern in Bundesliga there are not much opponents for the Titel. So I play rarely with Bayern when I am out for a challenge. I let you know which one it will be and which settings are a good level for me for both, realism and fun.
 
Byronic said:
I will do. Of course I am obviously a Bayern supporter, but that doesn´t mean I play with them my Career mode. ;-)
To be honest I thought about Team like Atletico in LaLiga or a Premiere League Team for same reason like you mentioned with Arsenal. I don´t care if I lost some games, that is what I expect when I decide to play a Premiere League Season with a 4,5 stars team. It´s like that, if playing with Bayern in Bundesliga there are not much opponents for the Titel. So I play rarely with Bayern when I am out for a challenge. I let you know which one it will be and which settings are a good level for me for both, realism and fun.
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Gonna try and install and yeah I dont usually play with Bayern for career modes. When I was younger yeah but honestly I am too competitive of a person to be okay with losing as Bayern even in a videogame and it can be easy. I usually use random teams usually Inter, Everton, Atletico
 
This evening I am a bit confused what "kinda happend" with my gameplay Installation from yesterday @El Pajaro @axmac ?!
Yesterday as I played some matches the gameplay feels very close to what I expect after installing all recommended here in the thread. There was more fouls, AI plays very good Passes, was Stonecold in front of my goal and my own mates seeking for space where they could receive a good pass. But this evening when I returned on the Pitch and play 2 matches every 2 or at last 3 pass of the AI goes far away from their teammates out of the field! Like they have adjusting Problems or coordination issues. When the AI plays with the ball on his feets there playing very well. Also they didn´t play weird football, it´s always hard to create chances. But that passing issue couldn´t be normal. The only thing I changed yesterday before I go to bed, I imported the matchintensity.txt from axmac´s Post in my DB via DB Master. I am that kind of type to check and reinstall everything before I ask for help or what could case the issue, but I will ask and at the same time now I will start to reimport first the matchintensity.txt default and see what´s happening. I am aware that this file is not responsible for AI passing, but it make me angry that this passing issue are appears for no reason imo. So I guess I made something wrong.
Second I try to set the sliders for pass fault in the AI settings back in direction vanilla 50. At the Moment I use El Pajaro´s slider settings showed in the Start post. Of course I know there are just an first suggestion to start by setting the sliders. Hope that helps... :))
I also try to make the game speed a little bit lower by reducing the speed and acceleration of AI and my Players. Feels still fast, although after set game speed to low.
 
During the tournament I see the same thing occasionally. In some games the settings work perfectly and there are like 15 fouls. Then in the next game I only have five or six and the CPU plays differently. But then again the next match can be perfect. I have no idea why it changes. Maybe there's some kind of random variation in the code that "overwrites" the settings?
 
Byronic said:
This evening I am a bit confused what "kinda happend" with my gameplay Installation from yesterday @El Pajaro @axmac ?!
Yesterday as I played some matches the gameplay feels very close to what I expect after installing all recommended here in the thread. There was more fouls, AI plays very good Passes, was Stonecold in front of my goal and my own mates seeking for space where they could receive a good pass. But this evening when I returned on the Pitch and play 2 matches every 2 or at last 3 pass of the AI goes far away from their teammates out of the field! Like they have adjusting Problems or coordination issues. When the AI plays with the ball on his feets there playing very well. Also they didn´t play weird football, it´s always hard to create chances. But that passing issue couldn´t be normal. The only thing I changed yesterday before I go to bed, I imported the matchintensity.txt from axmac´s Post in my DB via DB Master. I am that kind of type to check and reinstall everything before I ask for help or what could case the issue, but I will ask and at the same time now I will start to reimport first the matchintensity.txt default and see what´s happening. I am aware that this file is not responsible for AI passing, but it make me angry that this passing issue are appears for no reason imo. So I guess I made something wrong.
Second I try to set the sliders for pass fault in the AI settings back in direction vanilla 50. At the Moment I use El Pajaro´s slider settings showed in the Start post. Of course I know there are just an first suggestion to start by setting the sliders. Hope that helps... :))
I also try to make the game speed a little bit lower by reducing the speed and acceleration of AI and my Players. Feels still fast, although after set game speed to low.
Click to expand...


Yes - and that is the scripting I am talking about. Tournaments and even cup games in Career Mode would have these weird issues in some matches. Refer to my earlier post. In those matches, the only thing you can do is turn on legacy defending, park the bus and go for a 0-0. Also don't try risky passes. One difference between scripting in Fifa 16 and something like a PES 2020 or 2021 is the AI is sure to score when the scripting kicks in in PES. In Fifa 16, we just misplace most of our passes and get slower a lot more. But with legacy defending, we can still get those successful tackles and win balls in the midfield. So when you 'feel' the scripting in the first 15-20 minutes, just change your settings accordingly. It's frustrating, but scripting exists in all football games.
Even in PES 5/6, the master of them all - you can feel it in the 45th or 90th minutes. But what makes a difference in both PES 6 and Fifa 16 is that you can still manage to survive/defend against the scripted CPU.

You might also feel the scripting when you play exhibition matches against your rival club. So when testing gameplay, never play ARS vs TOT or BAY vs DOR. It's bound to act a bit crazy at times.
 
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papinho81 said:
I think the last lines of the cl.ini (from []//CHEATING to the end) are a must have.
They signifanly change the way the cpu play both defensively and offensively.
It does what it says. The cpu doesn't read your input anymore but react to what is going on on the pitch. As a consequence dribbling is safier but absolutely not OP and the CPU is more prone to bad timing and giving fouls. The best part in my opinion is the impact it has on the cpu build up. It really feels more natural and with a purpose, as opposed to the wizard escaping either with dribbling or quick passing the cpu used before. The cpu takes a bit more time before making its decision which looks better (also animations wise) and makes pressing way more rewarding than before. It is also like the cpu relys more on what their teammates are doing rather than what little mistake you made that it can exploit. I have seen build up attempts I had never seen before. I really liked my gaming session tonight.
Click to expand...
hello are you referring to the cl.ini of this mod?
 
The DB folder is usually inside one of the dataX.big files -- unless you have a custom-made patch installed (like ModdingWay or Infinity for instance), then you'll need to extract it yourself and regenerate to be able to edit it (I'm guessing you simply have a vanilla installation)

ALL mods/patches of course have an external DB folder with their DB (\data\db\), otherwise the game would just load the default/vanilla one

The only time the DB is NOT in the data\db folder (which is the only one available) is because NO mods/patches that change the DB/roster have been installed = the game is vanilla

:)
 
Ciais said:
The DB folder is usually inside one of the dataX.big files -- unless you have a custom-made patch installed (like ModdingWay or Infinity for instance), then you'll need to extract it yourself and regenerate to be able to edit it (I'm guessing you simply have a vanilla installation)

ALL mods/patches of course have an external DB folder with their DB (\data\db\), otherwise the game would just load the default/vanilla one

The only time the DB is NOT in the data\db folder (which is the only one available) is because NO mods/patches that change the DB/roster have been installed = the game is vanilla

:)
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Thank you ill give it a go again. I felt a bit confused and felt it was smarter to ask for advice than make a mistake and do everything again lol. I am confused because the file that comes out of the the gameplayzer comes comes out as 2 files. Would I create a data/db folder then? Sorry for the difficulties I'm giving
 

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What DB are you using for the Gameplayzer? Is it a modded one?

If so then yes, rename it to fifa_ng_db.db, copy it to data\db and regenerate -- you should be fine then
 
Ciais said:
What DB are you using for the Gameplayzer? Is it a modded one?

If so then yes, rename it to fifa_ng_db.db, copy it to data\db and regenerate -- you should be fine then
Click to expand...
I did vanilla install and did the stuff for the gameplayzer and I named those two files highlighted that it produced. I'll make a db folder in the fifa 16 directory and see if that worksn
 
Ah no, in that case I don't know what you gameplayzed -- if you just have a vanilla install, you first have to extract the DB folder (with the DB inside) from one of the dataX.big files, as I explained a few posts above
 
Ciais said:
Ah no, in that case I don't know what you gameplayzed -- if you just have a vanilla install, you first have to extract the DB folder (with the DB inside) from one of the dataX.big files, as I explained a few posts above
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Ah yeah I messed up there I see. Sorry! I'll redo this and get back to you if anything thanks again for your help =D
 
Ciais said:
Ah no, in that case I don't know what you gameplayzed -- if you just have a vanilla install, you first have to extract the DB folder (with the DB inside) from one of the dataX.big files, as I explained a few posts above
Click to expand...
Hi Ciais, 2 things I don´t get it. Yesterday after a long Fifa 16 mod session I finally ready to start my desired Career mode. Previously I gameplayzed my FIP 16 DB. Also I do all the neccessary steps, copy and paste the CL.ini and the CMsettings.ini-text from the Start Post. At last I import the matchintensity.txt to my DB. Fine till there. I start Fifa 16, first I forgot to check if all the Players have only 5 Stamina Value. I made a bunch of Transfers by myself and finally start a Career Mode with Leicester. Than I checked the stamina Value. It was not changed to 5 for non Player!
What did I wrong? Can I edit the DB after patching with Gameplayzed tool like doing Transfers in in game Editor Menu?
Secondly I did the gameplayzed patching again with my original FIP 16 DB and checked in game, now the Values are changed, but not only stamina decreased. All values are damn low. Like Lewandowski all values are red!
So 2 different scenarios. Maybe I forgot to regenerate after my second attempt when I gameplayzed my DB?! How must the Values look like for the Players after patching to be sure it works?
Sorry for the long explaining
 
@ndut92 just fyi, i believe the 'bak' version is just a backup of the db that is created by DB Master (/possibly other programs) when DB files are edited. i believe you can change the '.bak' to '.db' to use it again
 
sonaldo said:
@ndut92 just fyi, i believe the 'bak' version is just a backup of the db that is created by DB Master (/possibly other programs) when DB files are edited. i believe you can change the '.bak' to '.db' to use it again
Click to expand...
I had a feeling that was the case. I was going to update the rosters anyways so prpbably figure it from there. Thanks for the tip 👍
 
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