*Decompiling the Sim: Overall Rating

[Yeenoghu]

Good evening! Recently, I have dived into using a .NET decompiler to take a peek behind the curtain regarding exactly how the sim is programmed. I figured I’d start with something innocuous just so you all could see exactly what I mean before moving onto more advanced topics. To kick us off let’s look at something that is essentially meaningless, but I’m sure it’s a number you have seen before that you constantly want to improve.

Overall Rating

If you don't know where to find it, overall rating (‘Ovr”) is an approximation of a player’s overall value that can be seen on the roster page for every team in the index. First, from the screenshot below, it should be immediately obvious that overall rating is calculated differently for different positions. Obviously, ‘Arm’ and ‘Acc’ contribute heavily to a quarterback’s rating, while these numbers are irrelevant for runningbacks.

From examining the source code, we can discover the method used to calculate ‘Ovr’ for each position. For each position, ‘Ovr’ is simply a weighted average of other statistics--I’ll give an example using my own player and then show the template for the general case.

For linebackers, the formula is as follows--

Code:

Overall = 40% * Tackling + 30% * Strength + 25% * Speed + 15% * Agility + 10% * Intelligence + 5% * Endurance + 2.5% * Hands - 14.4

Substituting in Juan Domine’s stats gives us the following equation--

Code:

Overall = 40% * 70 + 30% * 73 + 25% * 84 + 15% * 55 + 10% * 52 + 5% * 72 + 2.5% * 31 - 14.4

Code:

Overall = 28 + 21.9 + 21 + 8.25 + 5.2 + 3.6 + 0.775 - 14.4

Code:

Overall = 74.325

This is rounded to 74 in the UI. Below are the formulae for each position--

QB

Code:

Overall = 40% * Accuracy + 30% * Arm + 30% * Intelligence + 10% * Speed + 10% * Agility + 5% * Endurance + 2.5% * Strength - 14.4

RB

Code:

Overall = 40% * Speed + 30% * Agility + 20% * Strength + 20% * Hands + 10% * Intelligence + 5% * Endurance + 2.5% * PassBlocking + 2.5% * RunBlocking - 14.38

FB

Code:

Overall = 50% * PassBlocking + 40% * RunBlocking + 20% * Hands + 15% * Strength + 10% * Intelligence + 10% * Speed + 5% * Endurance + 2.5% * Agility - 14.15

G

Code:

Overall = 45% * RunBlocking + 25% * PassBlocking + 20% * Strength + 15% * Intelligence + 12.5% * Speed + 5% * Endurance + 5% * Agility - 14.4

T

Code:

Overall = 45% * PassBlocking + 25% * RunBlocking + 20% * Strength + 15% * Intelligence + 12.5% * Speed + 5% * Endurance + 5% * Agility - 14.4

C

Code:

Overall = 45% * RunBlocking + 25% * PassBlocking + 20% * Strength + 15% * Intelligence + 12.5% * Speed + 5% * Endurance + 5% * Agility - 14.4

TE

Code:

Overall = 40% * Hands + 30% * Strength + 25% * Speed + 20% * Agility + 10% * Intelligence + 5% * Endurance + 2.5% * RunBlocking + 2.5% * PassBlocking - 14.33

WR

Code:

Overall = 40% * Speed + 25% * Hands + 25% * Agility + 15% * Strength + 10% * Intelligence + 7.5% * Endurance + 2.5% * RunBlocking + 2.5% * PassBlocking - 14.4

CB

Code:

Overall = 40% * Speed + 30% * Agility + 25% * Hands + 20% * Tackling + 10% * Strength + 5% * Intelligence + 2.5% * Endurance - 14.35

LB

Code:

Overall = 40% * Tackling + 30% * Strength + 25% * Speed + 15% * Agility + 10% * Intelligence + 5% * Endurance + 2.5% * Hands - 14.4

DT

Code:

Overall = 55% * Strength + 45% * Tackling + 10% * Speed + 7.5% * Endurance + 5% * Intelligence + 2.5% * Agility + 2.5% * Hands - 14.4

   
DE

Code:

Overall = 45% * Speed + 30% * Tackling + 25% * Strength + 15% * Agility + 10% * Endurance + 5% * Intelligence + 2.5% * Hands - 14.35

FS

Code:

Overall = 40% * Speed + 30% * Agility + 25% * Hands + 15% * Tackling + 10% * Strength + 5% * Intelligence + 2.5% * Endurance - 14.4

SS

Code:

Overall = 40% * Speed + 30% * Agility + 25% * Strength + 15% * Tackling + 10% * Hands + 5% * Intelligence + 2.5% * Endurance - 14.4

K

Code:

Overall = 40% * KickAccuracy + 30% * KickDistance + 25% * Intelligence + 15% * Endurance + 10% * Speed + 5% * Agility + 2.5% * Strength - 14.4

P

Code:

Overall = 40% * KickDistance + 30% * KickAccuracy + 25% * Intelligence + 15% * Endurance + 10% * Speed + 5% * Agility + 2.5% * Strength - 14.4

Lastly, I’ll drop a link here to a Google Sheet I made where you can enter your (or any) player’s stats and see what their overall rating would be at any position. (You can see that my player would have actually have a better overall rating at DT and DE, and this is likely true for most players following accepted build advice for LB.)

It’s pretty clear that the skills used to calculate ‘Ovr’ do not entirely correlate with general build advice, so what actually makes a skill important? Next, I’ll touch on the concept of ‘effective speed’ by position and address the commonly-held notion that 79 Speed is the best rating for most archetypes of QB.

[FleshBagSoup]

102 FB neato

[QuirkyTurtle]

This is incredibly impressive. I was always confused about how overall rating was calculated.

Appreciate the effort that went into this. Good job!

[Yeenoghu]

102 FB  neato

Thanks for this post, it made me realize that there is another line of code that caps the rating at 100. But for a moment, you became the only theoretical 100+ FB in NSFL history!

[timeconsumer]

and address the commonly-held notion that 79 Speed is the best rating for most archetypes of QB.

Only when they aren't flagged as a running QB. When flagged as a runner the faster the better.


Excited to see what else is coming.

[infinitempg]

Only when they aren't flagged as a running QB. When flagged as a runner the faster the better.


Excited to see what else is coming.

I’m working on something with this. Mag knows there’s some weird shit going on

[timeconsumer]

I’m working on something with this. Mag knows there’s some weird shit going on

Yeah in the past we've found other weird "breakpoints" as well. One of them was 87 vs 88 arm iirc, I'd have to double check with spec on that. Another one was 98 vs 100 arm where 98 arm is better (assuming 90 int and acc as well). I think a lot has to do with the ratio between certain attributes.

[infinitempg]

Yeah in the past we've found other weird "breakpoints" as well. One of them was 87 vs 88 arm iirc, I'd have to double check with spec on that. Another one was 98 vs 100 arm where 98 arm is better (assuming 90 int and acc as well). I think a lot has to do with the ratio between certain attributes.

Oh for speed there’s a few dumb coding things where higher speed is explicitly worse. DE and RB also have problems and there’s a weird thing with RBs and TEs receiving but FBs don’t receive the same penalty?

[timeconsumer]

Oh for speed there’s a few dumb coding things where higher speed is explicitly worse. DE and RB also have problems and there’s a weird thing with RBs and TEs receiving but FBs don’t receive the same penalty?

Amazing

[The_Kidd]

I knew there was a great reason you were drafted to our team. I do find it interesting how tackling and endurance basically seem to have inverted relationships with performance and their priority in the overall algorithm.(I had 120 tackles as a slot CB with a tackle rating of 50 the entire season)

As for the QB situation, only two archetypes can reach 79 speed. And there are only a few sets of playbooks that allow to QB to act as a primary running option where the 79 speed has real effect.

It would be interesting to see if the other archetypes have a similar speed exploit with a different rating(likely wont be the same rushing totals, but is there a scaled down ratio of the same exploit?). And how many playbooks can effectively take advantage of the speed exploit?

Wonder if this is the only position that experiences this?