Fellow Maddenites,

We all know about the freezing issues with the PSX version of Madden2000, and we have been frustrated to no end, losing time with 3rd and 4th quarter freezups.

After studying some of the technical support statements on why the game freezes, and good old-fashioned trial and error, I have played about 25 freeze-free games in a row, and here's what I have done:

Personally, I have a mini cooling fan that I keep on the PSX while I am playing...but ultimately, I don't think that it is the final factor. If you have an old PSX however, you want to make sure your machine stays cool.

Substitutions: You have to be very careful with substitutions. I know that many of the serious Maddenites like to have different personnel in different formations, so, during a game, we go into the substitutions selection, and customize our lineups. This can be part of the problem. The main thing that causes the freezups are lockups when players are running on and off the field.

I stay conscious of this issue, so to get around this problem (and avoid frustration), I do these things:

First, I do very little situational substitution. On punt returns, I do replace the defensive backs that sit on both ends with good blocking wide receivers, to get better punt returns, but that's it. When I want to make sure that I get snaps for players that I want to develop, I substitute via the depth chart. I do this when I am up 24 or more points in the fourth quarter. This way, I can still do a good job making sure that all my personnel gets game snaps.

Second, I really like playing a "fastbreak" style of offense: I no-huddle a lot, and audible frequently. Guys, I cannot emphasize this point enough: be careful, be VERY careful, about fastbreak play, particularly in the last 1 1/2 quarters. You can still audible with few problems, BUT BE DELIBERATE IN YOUR FORMATION AND PLAY CALLING IN THE LAST 1 1/2 QUARTERS, WAIT TO PLAYERS OFF OF YOUR TEAM AND THE CPU TEAM HAVE RUN GUYS OFF THE FIELD WHEN YOU CALL YOUR PLAY.

Lockups happen because of some overflow error that goes on when you call a fast play, or there's "oversubstitution," and players are running off and on the field. It's great that they wanted to game to be more "realistic" with personnel running off and on the field, but they've got a few bugs with the idea (the bad frozen sprites on the sideline don't help, either) that EA needs to fix for 2001: A Madden Odyssey.

Try these techniques out, see if it eases your frustration...let me know whether these tips work or not. I really hope this helps the fellas that have been having problems...

Keep playing!