Another substantial update has been delivered for Super Mega Baseball 2

After some teasing in recent weeks to raise anticipation the patch with new content and numerous improvements for Super Mega Baseball 2 arrived today. The DLC introductions include a new stadium and additional customization options, to go along with a considerable number of gameplay and Pennant Race improvements.

Added to the store

♦Stadium DLC: Red Rock Park.

♦Boss Player Customization DLC. Adds new hair styles, helmets, gloves, tattoos, and cleats.

♦Fierce Team Customization DLC. Adds many new logos and team designs.

Pennant Race Makeover

♦Players are now locked to a single team for each one-week race.

♦Added ability to edit starting lineups (starting pitcher still chosen randomly and fairly for both teams).

♦Team statistics are tracked throughout each one-week race. They can be viewed from the new Pennant Race Hub and appear in-game similar to Season/Elimination modes.

♦Added ability to use visually customized standard teams, with an option to disable seeing your opponent’s customizations and to report offensive user content.

♦Made it easier to browse profiles of other Pennant Race players.

Major additions

♦Added more logos to the base game.

♦Added ability to visually customize standard Super Mega League teams.

♦Added a chat wheel for sending short text-only messages during online play, along with the ability to mute incoming messages.

♦Added ability to watch AI vs. AI Exhibition games (local party only).

Balancing

♦Reduced the difference between high-power and low-power hitters (power up significantly for low-power hitters).

♦Reduced the difference between high-velocity and low-velocity pitchers (in-game pitch speed up significantly for low-velocity pitchers).

♦Slightly reduced the difference between high-speed and low-speed players (speed down slightly for high-speed players).

♦Baserunner jump times when stealing are now more random.

♦Increased the difference between high-fielding and low-fielding players (much fewer dropped balls for high-fielding players, slightly more dropped balls for low-fielding players).

♦Increased the difference between high-arm and low-arm players (faster throws for high-arm players, slower throws for low-arm players).

♦Slightly reduced real-time pitch speed, particularly when batting at high Ego.

♦Tweaked AI pitch targeting and strike/ball rates relative to pitcher’s accuracy.

♦Tweaked AI intentional walk decisions.

♦Improved AI baserunner decisions when choosing whether or not to steal.

♦Improved AI fielder decisions at high Ego when choosing between a force out and a tag out.

♦Made AI infielders more errant when timing their dives and jumps.

♦Improved AI substitution decisions to not leave tired/hurt pitchers in too long, and to be more willing to remove fielders out of position.

♦AI-controlled fielders on human-controlled teams now perform better, particularly when switching selected fielders.

♦Add variation to AI fielding routes so that AI outfielders do not always take the most aggressive route to the ball.

♦When pitching vs. the AI, the pitcher’s velocity and junk skills more realistically affect the AI’s ability to hit fastballs and breaking balls respectively.

♦Increased pitch target sensitivity when performing a normal pitch.

♦Improved ability for catchers to throw out base stealers after a pitchout.

♦Improved fielder behavior when backing up catches.

♦Tweaked batting reticle assist to provide an equal amount of assist to different pitch speeds.

Improvements

♦Made progress towards smoother and more stable online play, particularly when experiencing intermittent spikes in latency.

♦Made Pennant Race Rating changes for experienced players more driven by win/loss outcomes and less driven by run differentials.

♦Added a +100/+50/+25 Rating bonus for finishing 1st/2nd/3rd in a Pennant Race.

♦Tweaked Pennant Race Ego assignments to drive better 5-inning scores at various skill levels.

♦Reduce maximum change in Pennant Race Rating for experienced players after playing against an inexperienced player.

♦Additional unranked games are now required to become Ranked again in Pennant Race after being inactive for multiple weeks.

♦Reaching the max walks/beanballs or max auto balls limit in Pennant Race now results in a forfeit instead of a disconnect.

♦When entering the pause menu in an online game while batting, the batter automatically steps out when possible.

♦Added slow motion when baserunning vs. the AI in situations requiring a quick advance or retreat decision.

♦User-controlled baserunners at third base now auto tag up immediately on fly balls hit to the outfield with less than 2 outs.

♦Baserunners now ignore individual runner commands that tell them to run back to a base prior to their last safe base (except when they need to tag-up).

♦Improved throw power scores so that all throw scores are possible at every fielding Ego, with a 99 score always being awarded for a perfect release.

♦Improved realism of deflection physics after a fielder misses a diving catch.

♦Added additional pitchout feedback.

♦Made the color of the power swing score text consistent with the swing reticle load colors: red on the way up, blue on the way down.

♦After an intentional walk, the batter’s Mojo can no longer increase and the pitcher’s Mojo can no longer decrease.

♦Improved readability of online user left-side panels that display role, Ego, and connection quality.

♦Throw power bar now remains visible above a fielder while a throw is still queued, and disappears once the throw has timed out.

♦Better cameras when previewing customization and DLC items.

♦Cleats look more detailed.

♦Season schedule now viewable after completing the regular season in Season Mode.

♦Added new item notifications and additional shortcuts to DLC content.

♦Added 158 names to the pools of randomly generated player names.

Issues addressed

♦Fixed: Auto ball is incorrectly ruled during online Exhibition play shortly after the pitching user leaves or is disconnected.

♦Fixed: Various crashes and exploits occurring in online play through unexpected use of the substitution menu.

♦Fixed: Pitcher is unable to pitch at the start of an online game when transitioning from another game mode in some circumstances.

♦Fixed: Some rare occurrences of a pitch in online play resulting in a giant reticle and an invisible ball.

♦Fixed: Wrong pitch type thrown in online play after switching pitch types while opponent is in the substitution menu.

♦Fixed: When pitching in an online game, after a hit, the camera can sometimes snap in a jarring fashion.

♦Fixed: Ball changes position in unexpected ways at the time of pitch release during online co-op play vs. the AI.

♦Fixed: No batting reticle appearing in online play if attempting to start the play stepped out, but the step out is rejected.

♦Fixed: Rare crash that can occur during online play when a user is disconnected at an inopportune time.

♦Fixed: Rare game corruption that can occur when the home and away teams are both the Wideloads.

♦Fixed: Game can hang for a 4th player trying to join a 2v1 Exhibition game.

♦Fixed: In online play, a pitch could fail to register following a batter substitution in some circumstances.

♦Fixed: In online co-op play, the fielder can experience an invisible ball and/or pitcher following a forced pitcher substitution at the start of a half inning.

♦Fixed: In online co-op season, game can crash for non Party Leader during simulation of CPU games in some instances.

♦Fixed: Online user left-side panels can get stuck showing “Waiting” after all players are done waiting.

♦Fixed: Users can sometimes be placed in incorrect division upon becoming Ranked in Pennant Race.

♦Fixed: Team picker pop-up in Pennant Race can get stuck on the screen.

♦Fixed: Pennant Race results can fail to appear upon completion of a race, or incorrectly appear more than once.

♦Fixed: Pennant Race Rating not increasing after being awarded a win from an opponent forfeit or disconnect.

♦Fixed: Pennant Race Rating not correctly decaying over time due to inactivity.

♦Fixed: Pennant Race games ending in a forfeit or disconnect are not always recorded correctly.

♦Fixed: Win Streak award in Pennant Race can incorrectly reset to zero after an opponent disconnects.

♦Fixed: Win Streak and No Surrender awards in Pennant Race are incorrectly tallied for the current race only.

♦Fixed: Third Base is a Charm award in Pennant Race is not awarded properly.

♦Fixed: Pitching minigame score often inconsistent with the actual distance between pitch target and reticle.

♦Fixed: AI batters have a major advantage against pitchers with small pitch arsenals.

♦Fixed: Baserunners sliding after being told to retreat (leading to the game crashing in certain cases when sliding at home).

♦Fixed: Baserunners fail to process a command after completing a slide in some circumstances.

♦Fixed: Baserunners incorrectly ignoring a command issued right as they are tagging up.

♦Fixed: AI baserunners can forget to tag up after their progress was blocked by another runner.

♦Fixed: Pitcher does not always face the ball on plays in the infield.

♦Fixed: Catcher fails to tend home plate on soft rollers with a runner at third base.

♦Fixed: Catcher attempts to field fly balls in the infield that are nowhere near home plate in some circumstances.

♦Fixed: A forced out fails to be ruled when a fielder is touching the base while in the process of throwing the ball.

♦Fixed: In rare circumstances, an infield fly can be ruled on a sharp line drive.

♦Fixed: Fielder can fail to attempt a catch on balls that appear catchable in some cases.

♦Fixed: Fielder can fail to throw the ball when a throw is queued slightly too early.

♦Fixed: (PS4) Throw power bar not appearing when throwing the ball with a fielder standing near the bottom of the screen.

♦Fixed: Fielder info often appears during strikeout cinematic.

♦Fixed: Ball appears to glide above the ground on some foul balls.

♦Fixed: Umpire fails to make a safe call on certain close plays.

♦Fixed: Pause menu stays visible when a forced pitcher substitution is triggered.

♦Fixed: Batting power score being shown after a hit when the batter is a remote user.

♦Fixed: Announcer calling the next batter the “Designated Hitter” instead of the “Right Fielder” when the batter wears jersey number 34.

♦Fixed: Crash can occur when proceeding too quickly through the pregame lineup menu after resetting to the default lineup.

♦Fixed: Unable to properly navigate Pennant row in Pennant Race Awards screen.

♦Fixed: Starpoints get incorrectly reset when viewing historical seasons.

♦Fixed: Game crashes in rare circumstances when proceeding past the Team Roster screen.

♦Fixed: Pitch arsenal editor’s selected pitches could be displayed incorrectly.

♦Fixed: Deformed armpits when wearing a sleeveless jersey.

♦Fixed: Eyebrows clipping through eyewear.

♦Fixed: Ankle guard not rendering correctly on the boot cut pant style.

♦Fixed: Pennant Race status not refreshing correctly when entering the Play Menu in some circumstances.

♦Fixed: Pitcher can appear on 3-stars after a good offensive performance, but poor pitching statistics are shown.

♦Fixed: Various minor issues with some front end and lineup screens.

♦Fixed: (Steam) Potential crash when entering the substitution menu with a gamepad after previously exiting the menu with the mouse.

♦Fixed: (PS4) Soft lock can occur when swapping users during a game.