Community Forum

SDS has been amazingly quiet over this entire issue. Their wholesale lack of communication is another sad example of how a large corporation treats its paying customers in a shabby way. There has only ever been one formal communication by SDS on this issue of custom stadiums in online play, and that was a frozen thread they created several months ago saying they were deactivated due to a bug in head-to-head play.

SDS never did return to that thread to say the bug was fixed or that online play with custom stadiums were restored. Yet, it became clear that restoration happened, because people started to complain about that cheat stadium. Then, SDS took the entire vault down and never explained why, and they have gone back and forth with online use of custom stadiums and never once communicated their intentions.

Given this, I don't see how any of us can fairly answer your question, and even worse, I seriously doubt that the community manager, Joe, will see fit to offer you any clear answers either.

Part 2 of my editorial...

Want to stop cold 100% of all these complaints about market manipulations? Can happen with one update from SDS and it wouldn't take long to write the code to implement. These companies that make the gear that comprises 80% of the trinkets offered, they could agree to place their products in the games devoid of some silly market or play-for-rewards scheme. Instead, upfront, all equipment would be offered freely. That's right, what a concept!

Since equipment now no longer (and rightly) directly impacts avatar player performance in RTTS just make it official. It's role in the game is merely to gain greater immersion of realism, with virtual players wearing the gear as chosen by the customer playing out his avatar player.

Suddenly, all this equipment is removed from the market. No market, no manipulation!

Oh yeah, without SDS having to semi-police this virtual market monster they helped create, they might have more time to devote to some old fashioned concepts -- like fixing bugs in how the game plays! A second wonderful concept! Finally, SDS can keep stats on what equipment the customers choose. Since it's all there for free and unmanipulated selection, those stats would be a gold mine of consumer feedback. Companies would be stupid not to pay for that feedback.

Suddenly, there is no need for something as utterly stupid as stubs -- a virtual currency existing in a virtual video game, which is the incarnate example of nothing squared to the power of nothing!

So, what's left? Well, it would be the basic joy of playing virtual baseball games, which means that SDS would have to devote its energies -- all of them -- to making the play of the games the draw, which means making those games as good as they can be.

Now, I'm really going to throw out a bombshell concept.

Virtual competitions? Get rid of them, every last one of them. Stop trying to turn a baseball video game into something more akin to a role player shooter game where you have to wade through levels of blood to earn virtual junk lying on the ground.

Online options are strictly 100% cases of buddies hooking up for a baseball game. Does SDS have so little faith in the appeal of baseball that they have lost their faith that friends hooking up to play a game won't be a sufficient draw?

Guess what now disappears? All the malicious creeps who devote time to work up the fraudulent moves that constitute 95% of the complaints lodged on this community forum every single day. No more freeze offs, complaints about cards, and yes, complaints about malicious stadiums and vulgar logos. Unless you pal around with creeps you aren't going to work up a vulgar logo to "impress" your friends online. That junk is relegated to empty people who get their kicks out of tweaking internet strangers.

It isn't hard people. In fact, it is downright easy. We just need the suits running these video game companies to get off the high horses, and instead return to basic reality. If the game itself isn't a draw, then perhaps the goal needs to be to make the virtual copy of the real world game closer to reality in order to make it the draw!

I really wish people would step back from the details and look at the very large reality. All this nonsense about using bots to manipulate virtual prices of virtual trinkets. What does this tell you all? It really should tell you that it's emblematic of a larger problem that SDS has created.

Somewhere along the line, marketing types convinced the corporations running video game companies that the game itself was just too stale, too boring, and too unappealing to carry the title to the finish line. New spicy stuff had to be added -- all virtual and hence all entirely meaningless in the real world.

Then, other people with visions of larger performance bonuses convinced game producers that stacking the deck to encourage people to spend after market money on virtual tokens and other junk to acquire equally valueless trinkets could increase revenue streams.

So, what happens? People start devoting coding time and effort into creating cheats to manipulate markets that don't exist in the real world, and if they did, the cheats being used would be enough to get the people using and creating them arrested and charged for any number of real world white collar crimes focused around market manipulations, insider trading, money laundering, and other actual illegal acts.

I can remember for decades how when you bought a sports video game it was playing the virtual games that was the only draw. The spice was with the increase in bandwidth and baud rates these games could be played online against friends and family.

Then, even online play went off the rails with virtual competitions set up with more virtual trinkets laid out to entice people, leading to online cheating of various types including the one that got people up in arms here a few weeks back over another malicious custom stadium that ruined the fun for everyone.

It's time to face the core issue squarely. Complaining about bots and disreputable people is merely dancing around the cause. The problem is video game companies chasing more money and creating dodges and sidelines that they cannot control, including a stupid concept of a "virtual market" where they don't have the resources to police like a real market would be policed.

@BiigD008_XBL said in I've had ENOUGH SDS! Fix your servers!:

99% of players have no issue, so what is the fix? Have you tried reinstalling the game.

Why is it the first thing people urge customers to do is nuke their game and start over with a reinstallation? You have no idea what percentage of people have good or bad experiences. You have no idea what the root of his problem is, but you still serve up unsolicited suggestions to him.

For the record, he's in the SDS community forums asking SDS to fix an issue. The fact that SDS won't answer him doesn't mean the rest of us should feel free to serve up our own independent solutions for him!

The SDS community manager here, Joe, has what can charitably be termed a spotty record of staying in touch, much less responding to inputs. And when he does respond, all you get is a boiler plate pablum that goes, "I have passed this along to the team. Thank you for your comment."

Then, you never hear another word from him. No sincere updates, and certainly nothing tangible in terms of whether the issue will be fixed, much less a timeline.

That's the world of SDS. They will pay lots of money for the appearance of doing something good, but spend not a penny to actually follow through.

The reason's been offered.

It's the same reason why MLB teams prefer certain handiness for other positions. First basemen are more effective with the gloves on their right hands. This because they can maintain a better fielding position when holding a player close at first for a pitcher's potential pick off throw, and also because it gives them a better angle on throws to second with a runner advancing to same. A righty first baseman has to pivot his body to put his glove hand in the same position a lefty can naturally place it. In doing this pivot, a righty first baseman needs more time to move toward second base to make a fielding play.

For the same reason flipped around, teams prefer their third basemen to be righties, since they have their throwing hand toward the foul line. It means they can bare hand a weak dribbler or bunt down the third base line and immediately make the throw. A leftie would have to make more of a turn to angle the throw to first.

This is the precise reason why there are no leftie catchers, and over the history of the game, only a few have proven themselves the exception to the rule. The throw by catcher to third on a stolen base attempt is the prime reason why no lefty catchers.

It is body mechanics. A right handed catcher can keep his feet where they are and make the throw naturally to third. A leftie would have to pivot his hips nearly 90 degrees, and that delay is more than enough to turn a would-be out stealing into a critical stolen base at third.

People then ask, but isn't a leftie catcher then more effective at picking off a runner at first? Yes, but the risk-reward isn't nearly as significant as a stolen base at third. Plus, the catcher would dictate when that pick off throw is made. If you note the most famous example -- Javy Lopez's throw in the 1995 World Series, he sent a signal to the pitcher for a high and inside fastball (bust him in) and when preparing his position, Lopez actually pivoted his right foot behind his hips, with his foot actually pointed to first base. Lopez already cleared his hips to make that throw before the pitch was thrown. Had the base runner (Manny Ramirez) been paying attention, he would have noted Lopez's unusual pre-pitch stance. That foot pointed at first was a tell but Ramirez failed to note it.

So, when Lopez received the throw from Alejandro Pena, he had two things working for him. First, the pitch backed the hitter off the plate and Lopez's feet were in position for the throw. All he had to do was partially stand up to gain the needed leverage to make the throw.

A catcher cannot prepare like this with a runner on second because it puts him in a bad position to block a low pitch, but since the runner at second decides when to steal, the catcher would have to prepare this way with his left foot already pivoted to third to replicate what Lopez did.

Another reason is plays at the plate. A righty has his glove hand facing the third base side of home plate, and that means he can more effectively make a tag play to record the out.

Yes, you should be awarded first by virtue of the walk and then an extra base for the ball landing out of the field of play. This is per MLB rule 9.13, which includes rule 8.3.

Try throwing to third with a right handed batter in the batters box.

You'll have your answer.

I cannot recall the details, but in the course of working stadiums, someone discovered that there is something in the code that always has a domed or retractable roof stadium play in actual daylight sunny conditions. It seems there is therefore an option in stadium creation that turns off inclement weather.

Among the dozens of things already enabled in the code, this option to configure weather is just one more that SDS deliberately turned off in Stadium Creator. Must not allow those customers the option to configure stadiums so that they play out realistically!

What is the theme that unites all of these elements? Customer control of the game environment, and in areas that are not the online competition mode, where a logical argument could be made to restrict such options. But, in all the other modes, there are no logical arguments. It is merely SDS leadership selling a product where they go out of their way to keep customers from playing it in ways they would like to.

@Capt_Morgan__PSN said in Stark truth!:

I know nothing about creating games, but I think the issue San Diego studios is having are the cutscenes from these created stadiums. If I use a created stadium with the foul line walls moved all I see is the back of the stands during the cutscene.

That's true if you move the backstop walls in toward home plate far enough. However, that knowledge is balanced with whatever other artistic objectives one might wish to achieve. BTW: You can also get the same issue by moving plaza or upper deck level seats closer to home plate. In fact, I think it is more pronounced when adjusting the backstop area plaza or upper deck stands.

MLB The Show 25: Game Update 23
August 13th, 2025
PS5: 1.23
Xbox Series X|S: 1.0.91
Nintendo Switch: 1.23

Scheduled to deploy: August 14th/4 AM PT

General:
Fixed a bug where the incorrect pitchers threw during the Home Run Derby.
The home and away teams will now be in the correct dugouts at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Diamond Dynasty:
Fixed a crash that could occur when playing the All-Star Game Showdown.
Updated Player Models:
A few players will be updated after the content deployment on 8/14 at 12pm PT.

Joey Ortiz
Gregory Santos
Nolan Schanuel
Cole Young

First off, I played RTTS extensively and never encountered any of these bugs. The Bristol venue only plays in Exhibition mode from what I've seen and therefore is the epitome of limited application.

Yet, I could point to dozens of other bugs that cause issues affecting general quality of play, some of them going years without being fixed.

One wonders if the entire SDS software development team is down to one coder and a couple of labrador retrievers!

SDS, would you purchase a house that had a kitchen setup that looked like this?

https://preview.redd.it/when-i-try-to-make-the-stands-fit-around-the-corners-v0-jby76cwl1zif1.jpeg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=430113b1d16bfdb8af0c6507cafe928f2d7a5837

SDS has never provided clear information on the conditions needed for a perk to unlock. This makes one wonder if there is no set condition, other than something that applies to the perk type -- hitting for a batting perk, pitching for a pitcher perk, running for a baserunning perk, etc ...

I had all the perks but the filthy break pitching perk and it stayed that way for about six full seasons of RTTS play. Earned all the perks except that one in about the first two seasons played. I had about given up on earning that final perk, but in season seven I was the starting pitcher in a regular season game and suddenly it was awarded. I was just hoping I would not see the game crash to desktop! Fortunately, it did not and so I finally got that one missing perk.

SDS has now seen for over three weeks the advent of the cheat stadiums in the vault, as we again warned them nearly five months ago would happen, and they have still failed to properly fix the issue.

Here once again is the roadmap whereby SDS could easily fix the problem of actual cheat stadium in the vault without harming honest customer creativity such as moving the baseline and backstop walls, plus reclaiming the dead space the current SC code foolishly mandates:

1. Extend the existing Stadium Creator code that blocks online use of a stadium when an outfield wall panel is moved and apply it to all wall panels (outfield, baseline, and backstop) and concurrently, restore full editable control to move all wall panels.

2. Extend the existing code that forces all outfield wall panels to conform to any selected pre-set wall configuration so that these preset templates also force all wall panels (outfield, baseline, backstop) back into their default condition, and make this the only option that allows a custom stadium to play in online games.

3. Extend the existing code that prevents saving a stadium with a prop in the field of play, and extend that to prohibit placing any prop (wall panels included) into fair territory.

4. Revise the code detecting a prop in the field of play and replace it with code that assigns a location map to every wall panel (including updates when those panels are moved) that makes the outboard section of each wall panel a mini guillotine, that slices off any prop that would protrude past it. That way, any wall panel moved can be tightly bounded with any other prop -- no more enforced dead space. And do the same revision to the batters eyes so there is no enforced dead space in center field any longer.

Now, if SDS really wants to go past the bare basics, vice the code for preventing online play for moved wall panels being an all preset template, or nothing, instead have it block online play if a wall panel is moved beyond a set distance from home plate in the case of outfield wall panels, or a set distance from fair territory for baseline and backstop panels.

You make a detailed, reasoned, and probative analysis. It deserves contemplation before reply. So, I had to think about this.

You make an excellent and accurate overview analysis of the setup. I'm not sure your solution is appropriate or even fair. You do make a fair link in choosing a difficulty level in RTTS, one that strikes the right balance of game realism in terms of on-the-field results. Beginner mode is far too easy with your avatar player achieving entirely unrealistic level of play. However, playing on a higher difficulty level mires your avatar player in the minors too long because achieving a more realistic level of play produces too few tokens and by that your avatar player's development is behind his actual on-the-field performance.

Touche! You nailed the problem.

The method of direct points for good plays and having that converted to tokens which the customer can then use to upgrade his chosen attributes in exactly the way the customer chooses is the proper method of how RTTS games should play out. The problem is SDS isn't tuning the level of points for the difficulty level.

If your avatar player is performing at what in the real world is considered an elite level, say as an SP turning in an ERA of 2.5, or as a hitter turning in a .300 average with a yearly result of 35 homers and 95 RBI's, then that should result in your tokens being sufficient for rapid promotion, certainly seeing promotion to the MLB roster within two or three seasons.

SDS is on the right track but it seems they failed to stratify the points to mesh with the difficulty level. Bombing a three run homer in beginner mode yields the same points as doing it in all-star or legend mode. It shouldn't be that way. You should get as many points for bombing a homer in beginner as someone gets in legend for simply getting on base.

But, here is where it gets dicey. Some players want promotion to be more difficult in legend difficulty level than it would be in beginner difficulty level. So, where is the happy medium? That's the tough part of this. I think everyone likes the current system for awarding performance based points and converting to tokens. But, is the answer to make promotion in beginner mode take more points than it would in legend mode, or is the solution what it currently is -- making promotion harder in legend because it is harder to earn points?

I think the analysis you make is correct, but I'm not sure your suggested remedy is proper.

How ironic, the recent (and I think very harmful) expansion of online betting in sports is having the same corrosive influence in real world sports. Fans aren't focused on their teams winning and losing like they used to be. The outcome of the game is no longer measured in whether your teams wins or loses, nor even on following your favorite teams. Instead, it is based on meeting or failing to meet the betting line.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45965400/michael-porter-jr-sports-betting-impact-going-get-worse

This story is a player in the NBA noting the significant difference in how fans react during the games. But, the same problem is being noted in all the major sports leagues, and sadly not only professional games but collegiate. The trend we're riding will consume high school sports before long as the appetite for money starts to gobble up the traditional concept of rooting a team to victory or as a player merely playing for victory.

Frankly, the entire virtual rewards concept never made any sense to me. In my view, it leads to a focus on things other than playing virtual baseball games, either versus the CPU or online against other people. Focusing on end-of-phase virtual rewards changes the focus from the games to the trinkets, and I think this is where SDS has faltered.

The further SDS gets from win-loss records the more it myopically changes the focus from the games to things that diminish the game itself. The dichotomy is that the stronger a player's record the stronger his team gets, when this concept gets the cart before the horse. In real baseball, the stronger the team's players the better the record.

See the difference?

In SDS's model for online competition, everyone starts at the same level, and then skill produces different results leading to different rewards. The higher the initial achievement, the stronger the player's roster gets. In real baseball, it works the opposite. The better the team's result, the weaker the roster is supposed to get via lower draft slots. Of course, this all plays out over the course of years when SDS is pushing out a game every year.

This forces the start even, get better and better with more wins formula. This causes 90% of the complaints as customers squabble about what is fair or unfair in online competition play. Given SDS is going to continue to release every year, it seems the only way to actually measure people skill with the game, which seems to me the only fair mode of competitive online play, is to have everyone start with the same roster and slug it out.

No more end of phase rewards. Your reward is your record. And, since records are not the same, then finishing that "season" of online play isn't going to see equal rewards awarded. The people who finish at the top get the best rewards and the lower down the worse the rewards. So, how does one fairly stratify the competition level?

There could be different levels of competition, ranging from beginner to legend, sort of like the difficulty levels are current set. Customers choose their competition level and within that league go after it. Competing at the highest levels and achieving the highest record is the only way to earn the greatest rewards. Playing at lower levels, even with the best records means you win better rewards than other players in the same league with worse records, but at a lower level, your reward won't be as high as players with excellent records at a higher level. Customers receive rewards based on quality of record, and slug it out with the same players with those players based upon the difficulty of the league.

@dbub_PSN said in Miami Marlins aren't Expansion Era?:

They're not included in the Conquest. They were an expansion team WAY after teams like Mariners and Padres. And I believe they came in the same year as the Rockies.

Yes, it's a little thing that doesn't actually affect gameplay but it still bothers me.

If SDS can't get the simple things right, we can't expect them to get the harder things right.

You are correct. Both the Marlins and the Rockies were expansion teams in MLB, announced on 17 November 1992. So, SDS blundered here significantly. I would normally say submit a trouble ticket, but from what I've gathered, SDS doesn't have the staff dedicated to fixing bugs like this. Stuff is just being dumped out as quick as possible with the time schedule dictating the release vice the quality.

@YOSHI24_XBL said in Allow decline without penalty after stadium preview:

@PriorFir4383355_XBL said in Allow decline without penalty after stadium preview:

@YOSHI24_XBL said in Allow decline without penalty after stadium preview:

No team can decline the stadium they play irl … so why should that be an option. I bet any pitcher would decline pitching at Coors … but they have to

Clearly, you haven't been paying close attention to the forums of late! There are also rules within MLB for stadium construction. Here's a hint ... try building a stadium in MLB real life that has walls crisscrossing the infield -- see how far you get before MLB puts an end to your stadium design!

I did and my comment has nothing to do with it. Coors is a thing in MLB and the game … And I have to face the truth that things (stadiums) cannot always go my way … And to get back … everybody has to face the stadiums that are in the game …

Other thing: This topic is not about crazy things like walls in the infield. I tried to stay on topic

This thread is 100% about "crazy things like walls in the infield." The entire reason I created this thread was to try to motivate SDS to do something to destroy the very real option for nefarious people to leverage cheat stadiums to destroy online play.

Since I created the thread, don't you think yourself a bit unqualified to try to tell me and others what it is about?

@YOSHI24_XBL said in Allow decline without penalty after stadium preview:

No team can decline the stadium they play irl … so why should that be an option. I bet any pitcher would decline pitching at Coors … but they have to

Clearly, you haven't been paying close attention to the forums of late! There are also rules within MLB for stadium construction. Here's a hint ... try building a stadium in MLB real life that has walls crisscrossing the infield -- see how far you get before MLB puts an end to your stadium design!