Here some info that will help you guys:
Hello all NFL Players,
We wanted to outline the issues that have been experienced during this first week of release with NFL 2k5 as well as offer some explanations and an update on progress towards getting them fixed. Hang in there, both the development team of the game and Xbox Live reps talk every day with each other, and we are definitely working on a patch (Auto Update) to remedy these issues and we will be releasing that patch as soon as we make sure it passes testing and verification. There are two main issues that folks appear to be experiencing with NFL 2k5:
1) Not able to get the latest rosters:
First some background - In order to keep the teams fair online, everyone's roster need to be in sync. One player cannot have Eddie George on the Titans, while another person has him on the Cowboys (if you believe this weeks trade rumors anyway : ) . So every time you log onto Live, NFL 2K5 checks your roster version, and if there is an update, it gets download the latest one to your Xbox. NFL 2k5 is the first game that uses a new developer feature called Live Server Platform, which allows those rosters to come from a server being hosted by ESPN Videogames, so that roster file is not coming from a server located in the Live service. That explains why some folks may be able to log into Live successfully but are having an issue getting or checking a roster version. If that version check and download cannot be completed due to any kind of issue (internet problems, ESPN server offline, solar flares, whatever) then you will not be able to go online and play. You will know if you are experiencing this issue because you will see the "Roster cannot be validated" error message and you will not be able to go online. Why are people experiencing this? That is part of the current investigation, but if you have any kind of transient networking problem that causes the roster to not be checked, then start off by rebooting and trying to log in again and get the rosters checked. Future versions of the game will do this check later in the log on process.
2) Being able to get online, but not being able to connect to someone else and play.
This issue is separate from the issue above, because if you are experiencing this, you have already made it online and successfully passed the roster version checking and download issue listed above. This second issue shows itself by selecting someone to play against, but timing out when you attempt to connect to that person. If users are unable to play with someone else they need to try rebooting. The problem here is if you challenge 4 different users who don't accept (forcing you to cancel your challenge) you will be unable to challenge anyone else or to be challenged yourself. Likewise, if a user creates and cancels 4 matches he will be unable to challenge or be challenged. A reboot is in order in either case. The recommendation is trying to play with people who will accept your challenges (ie, friends). The developers have identified how to fix this and are working with the Xbox Live team to get a patch out to everyone ASAP. This issue does not happen to every game, but it does happen. Best advice is to keep trying to connect to folks until this gets patched.
Again, we just ask for some patience while we ensure that the fixes that we think will address these issues get tested and verified, so we know we are getting them nailed down. We do appreciate all the info that people who have experienced this issue have graciously supplied to help us investigate it as well.
Thanks,
ESPN Videogames / Xbox Live Team
