The Retro FIFA Discussion Thread (All FIFA games by EA are welcome!)

[TheKusanagiBlade]

Moving on by going back:

he should have also put direct link to his archive.

EDIT: here it is - https://archive.org/details/@rohankar

I asked a question, and was completely ignored.
Do the more recent FIFAs in this folder work without the need to use the EA app? If so, how?

 

[Sami 1999]

Aye, I could see that as I played. But I did like both of them on my 360, and I liked that at least the PC had finally moved into the current generation (what with how hideous 10 looked on it). So I didn't mind, even though I preferred 11 on the 360.
And credit where it's due, at least EA apparently thought of the players who didn't have the most powerful computers around that time of the later 00s; maybe that's why it took them so long to roll out the Impact engine on PC, and when they did they pulled what we'd later know as the "Legacy Edition" stunt. Which is one thing I can speak higher of them than of Konami (I remember how PES 3 would chug along if you didn't have a top-of-the-line machine back in 2004, and even later still with the seventh-gen and Fox Engine games) and some other publishers (coughrockstarcough).

It was such a bullshit excuse. At that point you might as well stop making games for pc.

And in the end, the next gen ports of FIFA games ran on intel integrated gpus just fine and on regular dedicated low end gpus it ran completely fine. Same with next gen PES games, they all ran just fine on potato.

The players who couldn't be bothered to even buy the lowest end hardware to run next gen games would have just pirated the games anyways.

 

[HeraclesMilano]

I've came to the conclusion 14 on pc is the worst looking Fifa of all times. It's a shame cause gameplay is really solid in my opinion, but colors, details... it's all so off putting.

I was going to post here and ask about fifa 14 PC graphics. I thought my potato laptop was the problem but even with the same settings fifa 13 looks better, hell even fifa 12 XD

In fifa 14 PC the grass looks dead. A flat cardboard basically. The lighting is non-existent, no contrast between shades, everything looks opaque, no bright tones, it looks like a much older game. In fifa 13 everything looks alive and bright, there's a nice contrast between the different hours of the day and even according to season, I just don't know how they took a work of art and failed to build on it for the next game.

Which is a shame cause fifa 14 introduced some nice features mainly in the gameplay, the ball has more weight just like the players, the AI is smarter and more intense especially when defending, it puts more pressure on you and there are a lot of midfield battles, mistakes and long balls. It's a little slower but not enough (I always set fifa games to slow and the pace felt great in 12' but not in next games), but still better than lighting speed fifa 13. The game is not that fun but still engaging and challenging.

I tried using moddingway but it can't fix the pitch. Maybe I'll run the classic patch and see everything looks there

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

It was such a bullshit excuse. At that point you might as well stop making games for pc.

And in the end, the next gen ports of FIFA games ran on intel integrated gpus just fine and on regular dedicated low end gpus it ran completely fine. Same with next gen PES games, they all ran just fine on potato.

The players who couldn't be bothered to even buy the lowest end hardware to run next gen games would have just pirated the games anyways.

Well, okay, what do I know? I'm a goddamn stupid naïve idiot anyway, right?

 

[Sami 1999]

I was going to post here and ask about fifa 14 PC graphics. I thought my potato laptop was the problem but even with the same settings fifa 13 looks better, hell even fifa 12 XD

In fifa 14 PC the grass looks dead. A flat cardboard basically. The lighting is non-existent, no contrast between shades, everything looks opaque, no bright tones, it looks like a much older game. In fifa 13 everything looks alive and bright, there's a nice contrast between the different hours of the day and even according to season, I just don't know how they took a work of art and failed to build on it for the next game.

Which is a shame cause fifa 14 introduced some nice features mainly in the gameplay, the ball has more weight just like the players, the AI is smarter and more intense especially when defending, it puts more pressure on you and there are a lot of midfield battles, mistakes and long balls. It's a little slower but not enough (I always set fifa games to slow and the pace felt great in 12' but not in next games), but still better than lighting speed fifa 13. The game is not that fun but still engaging and challenging.

I tried using moddingway but it can't fix the pitch. Maybe I'll run the classic patch and see everything looks there

The visuals were downgraded, twice on old gen versions. If you see the earlier gameplay footage, the lighting still had contrast even though the pitch texture already changed. By the time the demo got released, the overall color tone and lighting was already changed. But then the biggest downgrade happened with the final retail release where they completely toned down the lighting shaders, thus making all the shading based on normal maps near invisible. This affected the jerseys the most. The jersey models already started looking like ugly cylinders and non human since FIFA 11 [12 pc] and without the normal map shaders- it just looked downright ugly.

It looks worse than even ps2 era fifa games in terms of overall art style.

 

[NeoRetro]

Like for Ps2 with PES when the Ps3 was out : Fifa got also pretty special versions keeping the same physical engine as the Impact version, but with added animations etc.
There's one version i should recommand you to try : i was pretty surprised when i played it for the first time, it's FIFA 16 PS3/X360. I even found it, feeling wise, better than his Ps4 counterpart (a bit too floaty from my own taste, the only IGNITE version i like is the 14 PS4 version to be honest : as i just posted on the Pes Retro thread : i found not in gameplay but regarding the engine pushed a bit too far from what he can do (so, many thing feels really scripted, but i don't talk about AI script but introduction of some added animations that the engine reproduce many movement robotized with the exact millimeter for each adds)

So i recommand one specially, just give it a try : Fifa 16 Ps3 version. It's far better than the 19 on the same console for sure, now i didn't played enough to made a statement but i feel the Fifa 16 game philosophy but with the Impact Engine, which should normally making it one of the best if not the best Ps3 version never released.
More freedom and outcomes but aswell balanced as FIFA 14, then the Impact engine reproduce, at least to me, better every stuffs like contacts or physical stuffs, aswell as animations influing on the game and not looking too robotic. Player and ball weight are better than his IGNITE counterpart.
I'm not a super fan of Fifa 16 as i found it too easy and too light (that the parralel i felt with Pes 2013 in terms of "pushing the engine over his limits and adding too much stuffs he can't handle. Not PES 13 level but enough for me to get a weird feeling knowing that i always favored PES stats handling system except for some absolute mess like Pes 2016 where there's nothing to save)

 

[TheTonyTornado]

I have a question regarding sliders in FIFA 14 PS4

Line Height: 47
Line Length: 45

Does the lower value mean that the defensive line is lower and the lower length value means that its more compact?

 

[Pagi84]

I have a question regarding sliders in FIFA 14 PS4

Line Height: 47
Line Length: 45

Does the lower value mean that the defensive line is lower and the lower length value means that its more compact?

Pretty certain, yes

 

[Pagi84]

View attachment 20260430_173644.mp4
More 14 goodness. I miss and hit the woodwork alottt. As semi shooting, every goal feels earned. I panicked and hurried on both shots and the game reacted perfectly to what I did.

Same game. As I said previously, your players get injured in-game and you get to see the injury happen.

Here Medina gets injured. Now that I see it again, maybe I deserved a pen there.

View attachment 20260430_175251.mp4

 

[Sany023]

View attachment 418522
More 14 goodness. I miss and hit the woodwork alottt. As semi shooting, every goal feels earned. I panicked and hurried on both shots and the game reacted perfectly to what I did.

Same game. As I said previously, your players get injured in-game and you get to see the injury happen.

Here Medina gets injured. Now that I see it again, maybe I deserved a pen there.

View attachment 418529
View attachment 418531

That's exactly the moments in game, that makes pleasure from playing like real and much more bright inside, this moments "catch feeling of real soccer".

 

[flokiman]

Fifa 17, 18 and 20 are my way to go to satiate my appetite for football.
Each has its own pros and cons. And I think that 18 is the sweet spot.
I abandoned all the PES 2021 and FL26 hype train because after all, PES feel too stiff, predictable, linear and repetitive.
Fifa offers more freedom of control and unpredictability even if sometime it looks less realistic than PES.

 

[Sami 1999]

Like for Ps2 with PES when the Ps3 was out : Fifa got also pretty special versions keeping the same physical engine as the Impact version, but with added animations etc.
There's one version i should recommand you to try : i was pretty surprised when i played it for the first time, it's FIFA 16 PS3/X360. I even found it, feeling wise, better than his Ps4 counterpart (a bit too floaty from my own taste, the only IGNITE version i like is the 14 PS4 version to be honest : as i just posted on the Pes Retro thread : i found not in gameplay but regarding the engine pushed a bit too far from what he can do (so, many thing feels really scripted, but i don't talk about AI script but introduction of some added animations that the engine reproduce many movement robotized with the exact millimeter for each adds)

So i recommand one specially, just give it a try : Fifa 16 Ps3 version. It's far better than the 19 on the same console for sure, now i didn't played enough to made a statement but i feel the Fifa 16 game philosophy but with the Impact Engine, which should normally making it one of the best if not the best Ps3 version never released.
More freedom and outcomes but aswell balanced as FIFA 14, then the Impact engine reproduce, at least to me, better every stuffs like contacts or physical stuffs, aswell as animations influing on the game and not looking too robotic. Player and ball weight are better than his IGNITE counterpart.
I'm not a super fan of Fifa 16 as i found it too easy and too light (that the parralel i felt with Pes 2013 in terms of "pushing the engine over his limits and adding too much stuffs he can't handle. Not PES 13 level but enough for me to get a weird feeling knowing that i always favored PES stats handling system except for some absolute mess like Pes 2016 where there's nothing to save)

but EA switched to ignite engine with FIFA 16 on xbox 360. 15 was the last game with impact engine on x360 and ps3.

 

[Sami 1999]

Fifa 17, 18 and 20 are my way to go to satiate my appetite for football.
Each has its own pros and cons. And I think that 18 is the sweet spot.
I abandoned all the PES 2021 and FL26 hype train because after all, PES feel too stiff, predictable, linear and repetitive.
Fifa offers more freedom of control and unpredictability even if sometime it looks less realistic than PES.

PES 21's biggest problem is how sluggish it feels. Also the animations are so floaty and jelly like when dribbling. There's no satisfying feedback to your input thanks to this. Even the other sluggish games like fifa 14 [pc], PES 14 which I'm not very fond of are still decent compared to PES 21/20 [and somewhat 19/18] because of the animation feedback despite the delayed response.

At least that is the biggest issue for me when playing football games. This is why PES 13 is one of my favorites. It feels so responsive in comparison.

 

[*aLe]

but EA switched to ignite engine with FIFA 16 on xbox 360. 15 was the last game with impact engine on x360 and ps3.

I think @NeoRetro is right on this: Xbox 360 and PS3 games are all based on Impact Engine (and they got refined as years went by, for example I'm pretty sure FIFA 16 on PS3 has the "driven pass").
I really don't think Ignite ever came to PS3 and Xbox 360 (they just were unable to handle it).

Gotta check FIFA 16 on Xenia sooner or later, to see if it works and how it performs.

 

[Sami 1999]

I think @NeoRetro is right on this: Xbox 360 and PS3 games are all based on Impact Engine (and they got refined as years went by, for example I'm pretty sure FIFA 16 on PS3 has the "driven pass").
I really don't think Ignite ever came to PS3 and Xbox 360 (they just were unable to handle it).

Gotta check FIFA 16 on Xenia sooner or later, to see if it works and how it performs.

There used to be articles about the old gen version of FIFA 16 finally using ignite engine. It didn't mean much in terms of visuals tbh, it looks just like the previous games. So who knows if it was a misinformation or not.

As for Xenia, this game will require readback_resolve= full to be rendered correctly. However, setting it to full results in awful amounts of stutters. I'm on i7 6700k and 5070 Ti, my GPU was barely going over 40% usage and CPU usage was barely going over 60%. However, the CPU is quite old at this point, so you might have better results with newer CPUs.

The lighting will not render if you use resolution scale as well. This means you're stuck with 720p.

So, you might have a better experience playing the game on rpcs3 instead where it runs on higher resolution without lighting problems. However on rpcs3 the player names on back of the shirts do not render correctly.


As for the gameplay, I haven't played much of it yet but player movement feels a lot more responsive. So it kinda feels nice actually.

Fun fact, EA finally brought back 3D grass during cutscenes on old gen versions starting with FIFA 15. So we need to do a thorough checkup of this games to see how it was brought back. Maybe it's possible to bring those changes back in FIFA 14/13/12 PC? [FIFA 13 on Wii U had 3D grass during cutscenes as well].


Edit: I fucking hate the new EA app. Everytime I try to boot FIFA 15 and 16, it shows me the license error and I have to quit and restart the game multiple times for it to start working. Fuck EA.

 

[flokiman]

The new EA app is rubbish. Fifa 20 boots 1 out of 5 times, and the it uses 100% of Cpu for 1 minute or above just to boot.
Probably Denuvo issues.
As for PES I agree, is sluggish and everything is repetive. How the ball rolls, levitates, travels is everytime the same on certain scenarios. Shooting is linear and boring.

 

[VierGraustufen]

I had so much fun playing as Sunderland in the fourth tier of FIFA 15, and then moving up to the third tier after promotion. Since reaching the Championship, however, I’ve noticed the ‘legend’ script kicking in again. I win about six games in a row and find myself top of the table after about 30 matchdays. Ever since I’ve been top, I’ve noticed how the script prevents me from staying there and seems to take great delight in messing with me in the top four.

FIFA 15 is genuinely one of the best games in terms of gameplay, but I’m really fed up with this script nonsense.

 

[Sany023]

The new EA app is rubbish. Fifa 20 boots 1 out of 5 times, and the it uses 100% of Cpu for 1 minute or above just to boot.
Probably Denuvo issues.
As for PES I agree, is sluggish and everything is repetive. How the ball rolls, levitates, travels is everytime the same on certain scenarios. Shooting is linear and boring.

I can suppose just to play in set of old FIFA on PS4 console, for those who is have such possibility.
It will be in the end of all much more easy and simply: insert disc with needed game and play.
And also we can "save our nerves", because most of old FIFA is offline and will be working good even without internet.

FIFA 15 is genuinely one of the best games in terms of gameplay, but I’m really fed up with this script nonsense.

Mate, fully agree with you.
FIFA 15 and FIFA 16 are having own unique playability and "feeling of soccer", even with it's existing cons and pros.

 

[Sami 1999]

Ignite engine was a great engine for FIFA. It evolved from their previous engines so I guess this engine had the benefit of having years of gameplay improvements? Then they switched to frostbite and both visuals and gameplay took a turn for the worst. FIFA 18 was the last one I enjoyed and even then I prefer 16.

 

[HeraclesMilano]

Hey guys, I'm having a lot of fun with fifa 13 and I was wondering: is it still possible to get the unlockable items? There's a lot of interesting choices but I mostly want them for Edit player in CM and new balls and boots.

 

[NeoRetro]

I think @NeoRetro is right on this: Xbox 360 and PS3 games are all based on Impact Engine (and they got refined as years went by, for example I'm pretty sure FIFA 16 on PS3 has the "driven pass").
I really don't think Ignite ever came to PS3 and Xbox 360 (they just were unable to handle it).

Gotta check FIFA 16 on Xenia sooner or later, to see if it works and how it performs.

I played FIFA 16 on PS3 and doesn't mention Ignite in any sort of presentation. I also tried all the others since i brought a PS3 jailbroken (it's not forbidden anymore, but talking about PS4 Jailbreak should normally be forbidden)

But the PS3 version is perhaps, you should test, the best Impact Engine version of all. Even above Fifa 16 Ignite in my opinion : more natural in movement, ball physics etc.

They created a patch with current 2026 roster but based on FIFA 19.... Which is a bit too quick and precise, easier to run to the goal thanks the new feature which for me killed a bit the franchise : the famous L2 super laser pass, no one seems to be bothered by that. It's not natural with that level of precision.

FIFA 17 (first Frosbite try, transiton version) there was sometimes bad controls slowing down the process.
But since FIFA 18, those miss where more and more rare : even if they reduced a bit the ball speed, i don't count how much goal i scored with a direct laser pass L2 (on my config alternative) from the midfield to the last 20 meters, shoot > goal.

 

[Pagi84]

Reason 1232 why FIFA 14 is sexy.
Big Euro Cup knockout game. This RW was behind my defence, big problems, so I just waited for him to take a 2nd touch and...
View attachment 20260503_122521.mp4
You can even time ruthless last ditch challenges to perfection. Felt so satisfying.

Edit: Jokes on me they just scored a crucial away goal from that free kick.

 

[HeraclesMilano]

Hey guys, I'm having a lot of fun with fifa 13 and I was wondering: is it still possible to get the unlockable items? There's a lot of interesting choices but I mostly want them for Edit player in CM and new balls and boots.

Found a way to do this, it involves creating a cl.ini file where you write different command lines to unlock Edit player and rematch in CM, historic kits, balls, and a couple of extra boots. Financial takeover may or may not work.
Very easy and quick, no need to regenerate.

I read it works the same for FIFA 14 but in this case regenerate is necessary

 

[millossobek]

Guys, could anyone explain this? I just finished Groupstage 4 of the Champions League (called Champions Cup) in FIFA 15, as Depor, and I'm in THIRD place behind Zenit with two matches to go, even though we have the same number of points, and I have +2 Goal Difference and they have -1 Goal Difference.. This is actually quite confusing..

 

[EauRouge]

View attachment 423084

Guys, could anyone explain this? I just finished Groupstage 4 of the Champions League (called Champions Cup) in FIFA 15, as Depor, and I'm in THIRD place behind Zenit with two matches to go, even though we have the same number of points, and I have +2 Goal Difference and they have -1 Goal Difference.. This is actually quite confusing..

three-way tie breaker

 

[*aLe]

three-way tie breaker

Yeah, quite surely this. Even if it doesn't make sense after matchday 4.
But this is what I believe has happened:

• After matchday 3: PSG, Zenit and Depor all defeated Wolfsburg. PSG defeated Zenit, Zenit defeated Depor and Depor defeated PSG (or the other way around).
• Matchday 4 came: PSG and Zenit drew and Depor drew against Wolfsburg.
• Now, in the tie breaker PSG and Zenit have 4 points each (in 3 matches each), whine Depor have 3 (in 2 matches).

Considering that a three-way tie breaker is usually used at the end of the group stage (so when all the teams have playead against each other the same times) I expect it to ignore the actual match count that the teams have "against each other" (it just assumes that every team has the same).
So, in this case, the logic is "Depor has less points in the tie breaker than the other teams, so they must be behind".

A three-way tie breaker doesn't make sense at this point, because Depor now have played less matches against PSG and Zenit than the ones PSG and Zenit have... But we know EA.

 

[Bing Bing Wahoo]

Yeah, quite surely this. Even if it doesn't make sense after matchday 4.
But this is what I believe has happened:

• After matchday 3: PSG, Zenit and Depor all defeated Wolfsburg. PSG defeated Zenit, Zenit defeated Depor and Depor defeated PSG (or the other way around).
• Matchday 4 came: PSG and Zenit drew and Depor drew against Wolfsburg.
• Now, in the tie breaker PSG and Zenit have 4 points each (in 3 matches each), whine Depor have 3 (in 2 matches).

Considering that a three-way tie breaker is usually used at the end of the group stage (so when all the teams have playead against each other the same times) I expect it to ignore the actual match count that the teams have "against each other" (it just assumes that every team has the same).
So, in this case, the logic is "Depor has less points in the tie breaker than the other teams, so they must be behind".

A three-way tie breaker doesn't make sense at this point, because Depor now have played less matches against PSG and Zenit than the ones PSG and Zenit have... But we know EA.

It actually seems to be correct: https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation...champions-league-group-stage-tiebreaker-rules

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

View attachment 423084

Guys, could anyone explain this? I just finished Groupstage 4 of the Champions League (called Champions Cup) in FIFA 15, as Depor, and I'm in THIRD place behind Zenit with two matches to go, even though we have the same number of points, and I have +2 Goal Difference and they have -1 Goal Difference.. This is actually quite confusing..

I think they count goals scored over goal difference. But then...



...You guys agree with my self-assessment!