FIFA 20 Update 4 released, improves AI, Goalkeepers and Skill Moves, full patch notes revealed


EA Sports has released a brand new update for FIFA 20. According to the release notes, Title Update 4 makes a number of changes to Legendary AI Difficulty and tweaks Skill Moves. Moreover, it brings minor visual updates to some players and fixes some framerate issues when playing on some DirectX 12 supported GPUs.

This patch also fixes various visual issues with the crowd, as well as issues related to the broadcast overlay packages shown during a match. In addition, it addresses an issue that could cause Motion Blur to be present on players following some camera transitions.

It’s also worth noting that this latest update comes with some gameplay fixes. For instance it increases the likelihood that a goalkeeper will gather the ball after performing a slide into a ball carriers’ feet. Furthermore, it improves overall goalkeeper behaviour and AI. It also fixes some animations that were sometimes occurring in contested heading and contested passing situations.

As always, Origin will download this patch the next time you launch its client. You can also find below its complete changelog.

FIFA 20 Title Update 4 Release Notes

Gameplay (General):

Made the following changes:

  • Made a number of changes to Legendary AI Difficulty with the goal of making it more challenging:
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s ability to mark a player that is Strafe Dribbling.
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s ability to apply defensive pressure to the opponent’s ball carrier.
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s passing logic by allowing it to make smarter decisions when passing.
      • This is intended to result in better passing target selection by the CPU AI Controlled Player.
      • This shouldwill result in less offside passes by the CPU AI Controlled Player.
    • When the CPU AI Controlled Player performs Step Over Skill Moves they should be more aware of the defenders.
    • The CPU AI Controlled Player will use the functionality of the new Free Kick system more effectively.
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s crossing logic to allow them to make a better decision between making crosses versus dribbling.
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s ability to make more precise dribbles.
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s decision making process when attacking, specifically in situations in which it should wait for more teammates to join the attack before taking action.
    • Increased the likelihood of the CPU AI Controlled Player performing green timed shots.
    • Improved the CPU AI Controlled Player’s ability to mark players overlapping players near the wing, specifically by not switching to another teammate if the defender is already close to the ball.
    • Reduced the likelihood of the CPU AI Controlled Player performing Fake Shots in some incorrect situations.
    • Here’s a refresher on what we mean by “CPU AI Controlled Player”
      • The CPU plays the game as you would, limited by the same input restrictions that a human player is.
      • This means that the CPU team has an active player, just like you do, which we call the CPU AI-controlled player.
      • A CPU AI-controlled player exists in the following circumstances:
        • On a team with no human players, for example, the CPU-controlled team in Squad Battles.
        • On a team with human players who are all locked to specific players, that also has CPU teammates, for example, a Pro Clubs team, with less than 11 human players, with no “ANY” player.
      • A CPU AI Controlled Player does not exist in the following circumstances:
        • On a team with human players who are not locked to specific players, For example, a team in FUT Champions.
  • A number of changes to Skill Moves:
    • Increased the responsiveness of the Body Feint Skill Move when performing it while standing still.
    • The Advanced Rainbow can now only be performed by 5 Star Skill Move players.
    • The Ball Roll into Heel Chop Skill Move combination will now require the player to have 4 Star Skill Moves.
    • Players will now be able to use the new Heel Chop Turn Skill Move combo in combination with other Skill Moves, such as a Ball Roll.
    • Increased the likelihood that error will impact multiple Fake Shots chained while sprinting, specifically when they’re chained at a 45 degree angle in either direction.
    • Reduced exit speed when performing the Drag Back Skill Move at a 180 degree angle.
  • Scoring an own goal in King Of The Hill, when the goal is worth 0 points, will now result in your opponent getting a corner kick.
    • Previously this was resulting in a goal kick for the team that scored the own goal.

Addressed the following issues:

  • When playing with 4-3-2-1, one of the attacking players would be incorrectly positioned at a corner flag during a kick-off.
  • Some instances of incorrect offside calls where the player that was called offside was not actually involved in the play.
  • Sometimes it was taking too long for the user controlled player to perform a shot or pass following the user’s input.
    • This was due to the animation selection system taking too long to pick an appropriate animation in some situations.
    • This was not related to online gameplay responsiveness.
  • Players were sometimes taking too long to perform a shot after performing a knock on dribble.
  • Some situations where it was taking too long to register a player as being in control of the ball.
    • When this occurred, user controlled players sometimes took longer to execute a pass, shot, or dribble.
  • Rarely, in situations where an opposing player was very close to the user controlled player, attempting to make a pass would not register.
  • After a strong challenge, the user controlled player would sometimes visually react, causing them to not be able to take part in the play until that reaction had ended.
  • Increased the likelihood that a goalkeeper will gather the ball after performing a slide into a ball carriers’ feet.
    • Previously, this resulted in too many loose ball and goal scoring situations.
  • Sometimes the goalkeeper attempted a diving save in situations that did not warrant it.
  • Some situations where goalkeepers were incorrectly rushing out of the box in order to get to the ball but then deciding to go back to their goal.
    • This did not apply in situations where the goalkeeper was being controlled by the Rush Goalkeeper Out action.
  • Goalkeepers were sometimes having the ball knocked out of their hands due to contact from a teammate.
  • When a goalkeeper was throwing the ball to a player, sometimes an unintended player would get selected by Player Switching and would then need to chase after the ball.
  • When in a contested situation, goalkeepers will be less likely to be impacted by physical contact between them and other players.
    • As a result of this change, goalkeepers, in a contested situation, will be less likely to miss catches, stumble, or get knocked over.
    • Additionally, when goalkeepers make a save in a contested situation which would result in a rebound, they will now be more likely to push this rebound further away.
  • Goalkeepers were performing incorrect animations in some situations when attempting to react to a headed ball that was directed toward the ground.
  • When playing locked to the goalkeeper, such as in Pro Clubs, sometimes the keeper would be incorrectly facing away from the ball.
  • When playing locked to the goalkeeper, such as in Pro Clubs, sometimes the keeper would be incorrectly standing in a high urgency stance.
  • Incorrect animations were sometimes occurring in contested heading and contested passing situations.
  • Players sometimes running in place when attempting to move towards the ball.
  • Some situations where the player was approaching the ball, in an effort to take control of it, and was facing in an incorrect direction.
  • Some situations where the animation of a player taking control of the ball would result in the ball being directed slightly differently than the user’s directional input.
  • Improved some situations where the incorrect animation was occurring when a player approached the ball in an attempt to control it.
  • Players were taking too long to retake control of the ball following a Let Ball Run action.
  • Players were sometimes running over the ball after pressing the Shoot Button, and had to go back to control it before taking a shot.
  • Players were sometimes losing control of the ball when a first time pass or shot got cancelled or interrupted.
  • Doing a Rainbow Flick followed by a Chip Shot attempt will no longer result in the player performing a 180 degree turn after they regain control of the ball.
  • Sometimes when performing a Ball Roll Skill Move, the ball would unintentionally make contact with the player’s foot and the player would lose control of the ball.
  • When attempting to perform a Drag Back, the player was sometimes performing a 180 degree dribble turn instead.
  • Sometimes players were losing control of the ball in the middle of performing a Skill Move.
  • Players could sometimes jump higher than their Jumping Attribute should have allowed.
  • When taking an Early/Red Timed Finishing shot, the ball speed of the shot was sometimes too high.
  • When playing a match with multiple User Controlled Players on the same team, the controller indicators were sometimes displaying the wrong color.
  • Rarely, following a free kick, the free kick taker would freeze in place.
  • Players with the Set Play Specialist Trait were having their aiming reticule move slower than player’s without this trait.
    • This issue was impacting set play situations where the ground aiming reticule is active.

Gameplay (VOLTA FOOTBALL):

Made the following changes:

  • Adjusted the impact value of some skill moves when calculating your Avatar’s Match Rating and when determining the Play Of The Match scene.

Addressed the following issues:

  • Players were able to contextually perform a Bicycle Kick despite not having the Bicycle Kick or Flair Trait.
    • These Traits are acquired in VOLTA FOOTBALL as part of the Skill Tree.

FUT:

Made the following changes:

  • If a player has unclaimed Group or Season Objective rewards after the related Group or Season expires, they will now need to be manually claimed via a tile within the FUT HUB.
  • Updated the team selection used for Offline Draft.
  • When playing on Ultimate difficulty against an AI controlled team, their overall rating will now display as ULT when viewed in the Pause Menu.
    • Previously this was incorrectly showing the players base overall rating without the boost to their attributes, which comes from playing on Ultimate difficulty, being applied.
  • Save Technique has been removed from the Player Bio screen as this concept no longer exists in FIFA 20.
    • Save Techniques are no longer supported in FIFA 20 and this was missed as part of that removal.
  • Updates to some front end visuals.
  • When attempting to submit a Squad Building Challenge, which contains players from one or more of your Squads, you will now see the specific items impacted as part of the submission confirmation flow.

Addressed the following issues:

  • Player’s were not being properly impacted by their Fitness level when playing a match.
  • The Weekly Score thresholds for each Rank within a Rivals Division now correctly shows in game.
  • The Battle Score thresholds for each Rank within Squad Battles now correctly shows in game.
  • Sometimes the player would see an incorrect value for their total earned Season Objective XP.
    • When this happened, this could result in a reward being shown as available for claiming, as that is driven based off the value displayed in the game.
      • When the player tries to claim this reward, the value displayed in game is validated against the total amount of Season Objective XP that the player actually has earned, which is tracked on the server.
      • In a case where the value on the server is lower than the value being displayed in game, the player would receive an error, after which, the value displayed in game would properly update to align with the value from the server.
    • This was a visual issue only.
  • During the post-match flow following a Rival’s match, a player’s Skill Rating was incorrectly labelled as their Weekly Score.
  • Objectives related to in-game actions were not being displayed in the Pause Menu when selecting the Gameplay Objectives tile.
  • It was possible to end up in a FUT Online match where the CPU AI was controlling your team.
  • Your default difficulty setting should no longer update based on the difficulty you select in a Squad Battles match.
  • When changing players via the Team Management screen in the Pause Menu, it would appear, based on the player names, that the changes were not actually taking place.
    • This was a visual issue only, the correct changes were being applied in game.
  • The Season Objective widget would rarely not display on the screen.
  • Multiple instances where a Champions Channel replay would desync.
  • Sometimes, when attempting to view a Champions Channel replay, you would be taken to a black screen.
  • Players were not seeing their FUT Coin balance update correctly after selecting their Squad Battles rewards until they logged out and back into FUT.
  • Backing out of a Take Me There link to the Season Objective HUB could result in a player seeing an Objective Group as undefined.
  • Stability issue seen in some situations after downloading a FUT Squad Update.
  • Debug text present after claiming some Season Objective rewards.
  • When making changes to your subs or reserves, with Multi-Swap active, the chalkboard dots were moving around.
  • Searching for Club Items on the Customize tab of the Squad Screen would sometimes display a player’s name instead of the proper Club Item.
  • Overlay incorrectly referred to a manager as a player after purchasing a Manager Item from the FUT Transfer Market.
  • Visual issue when highlighting a Rare Item on the Club Tab of the Squad Screen.
  • Visual issue when highlighting an ICON Item on the Club Tab of the Squad Screen.
  • When changing Ball Items in the Customize tab of the Squad Screen, the images of the balls sometimes overlapped.
  • Adboards for FUT Champions were present in Friendlies matches.
  • The indicator on the Store was not correctly showing how many packs were in a player’s My Packs section after claiming rewards that contained multiple packs of the same type.
    • This was visual only, the correct number of packs were in My Packs.
  • Visual overlap between some assets on the Squad Battles tile when you had rewards waiting to be claimed.
  • The Abuse Reporting overlay, when accessed in FUT Friendlies Couch Play, was incorrectly listing some options twice.
  • The Verification Required overlay was missing the appropriate button callouts.
  • Stability issue rarely impacting players after they complete the Verification Required overlay.

Career Mode:

Made the following changes:

  • Added Goal Difference to the Standings screen.
  • Adjusted the default goal updates audio selection in some situations.

Addressed the following issues:

  • Sometimes opposing AI controlled teams were fielding weaker lineups in inappropriate situations.
  • Situation where the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League wouldn’t take place during the season.
    • This fix will only impact new save files, it will have no impact on existing save files.
  • Managers were sometimes getting fired despite having very good records.
  • Various fixes to the questions being asked in press conferences.
  • The Carabao Cup was incorrectly going to extra time in the Semi-Finals instead of directly to penalty kicks.
  • Indicator that shows which team is controlled by the player was missing from some screens.
  • Corrected some issues with which teams were qualifying for various stages of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
  • Transfers that included both a transfer fee and a player exchange do not reflect the player exchange in the associated Transfer News.
  • There was no email notification of receiving Sell-On Clause revenue.
    • This was an issue with receiving the email only, the revenue was still being added to your team.
  • The Transactions screen was not properly reflecting the amount that was paid out from a Sell-On Fee following the transfer of an applicable player.
  • Shortcut to Inbox was not correctly displaying on Press Conference days.
  • Recently signed youth players were requesting playtime too often.
  • Various issues related to News articles.
  • Various text issues impacting Liga 1.

VOLTA FOOTBALL:

Addressed the following issues:

  • Being unable to recruit a player following a VOLTA LEAGUE match if the player’s active VOLTA STORY competition did not allow for recruiting.
  • Sometimes a server error would display if backing out of the Avatar creation flow.
  • Player was made to change their team information during VOLTA STORY even if they had previously set it.
  • Stability issue if the player repeatedly skipped the cinematic scenes.
  • The Play Of The Match scene was displaying aspects of the trophy scene if the player quickly skipped it following an event final victory.
  • An overlay was sometimes seen on the ground during the Play Of The Match replay.
  • Play Of The Match overlay was missing if the player skips the trophy scene following an event final victory.
  • Play Of The Match scene displayed an incorrect overlay in the background.
  • During the Buenos Aires VOLTA STORY Tournament, some scenes didn’t always have your team properly wearing the right clothing.
  • Some players, on the Player Recruit screen, looked shorter than they should have.
  • After choosing to Reset VOLTA STORY, players were unable to restart without going directly to the Warehouse location.
  • Button callouts were missing when on the My Squad screen in Change Formation mode.
  • Sometimes the Action overlay was cut off on the Squad Management screen when you had the maximum number of players.
  • Stability issue after pressing multiple buttons at the same time on the Play Match in VOLTA LEAGUE.
  • Text overlapping in the pre-match scene when playing in some languages.
  • Multiple visual issues within VOLTA FOOTBALL cinematics.

Pro Clubs:

Addressed the following issues:

  • Stability issue rarely impacting a player at the end of a Pro Clubs match.
  • All players had the number 1 on their kits in a Drop-In Match.
  • Stability issue when backing out of the Pro Clubs HUB while transitioning between screens.
  • ‘At The Top’ had the wrong description.

Online Modes:

Made the following changes:

  • Online Friendlies involving Bundesliga 1 or Bundesliga 2 teams will now use some of the league specific broadcast package.

Addressed the following issues:

  • When playing consecutive Online Friendlies matches, changes made to your Team Management, in the pre-match flow, for matches beyond the first were not correctly being taken into gameplay.

Kick Off:

Addressed the following issues:

  • Sometimes, when playing in a match where teams have the same players in common, some of the players on the Away team would play out of position.
    • This issue was only happening in matches played in Kick-Off.
  • Changing the formation of your team, during the pre-match flow of a VOLTA FOOTBALL match, was also causing the players to change.
  • The team ratings displayed when selecting teams were not being properly updated to reflect the selected team in some situations.
    • This was a visual issue only.
  • Some players, on the Player Details screen in the pre-match flow for a VOLTA FOOTBALL match, were showing the same position multiple times.

Skill Games:

Made the following changes:

  • Added text descriptions of the Skill Game requirements, which display on-screen while playing each Skill Game.

Addressed the following issues:

  • Incorrect camera and indicators used for a Skill Game if the player had previously played a VOLTA FOOTBALL Skill Game.

General:

Addressed the following issues:

  • The Specialties tab was removed from the Player Bio tab in the Select Arena Player screen.
    • Specialties are no longer supported in FIFA 20 and this was missed as part of that removal.
    • Updated instructions for Set Up Touch.

Audio:

Made the following changes:

  • Added commentary specific to female managers.

Addressed the following issues:

  • Sometimes the commentary was stating that the incorrect team won or lost a match.
  • Incorrect audio indicating that a commentator was interrupting his colleague when he wasn’t.
  • Sometimes the commentators would indicate the incorrect location for the match.
  • Commentators sometimes incorrectly referring to the first penalty kick called in the game as ‘Another penalty’.
  • Commentators sometimes referring to clinching a UEFA Champions League Group as clinching the trophy.
  • Top scorer audio, during the pre-match scene, was playing too often.

Visuals:

Made the following changes:

  • Updates to 2049 2D Player Portraits.
  • Updates to multiple logos, crests and kits.
  • Minor visual updates to some players.

Addressed the following issues:

  • When showing a Goal Decision System replay, sometimes the wrong frame was being shown in the replay.
    • This would occasionally make the replay decision seem incorrect, but it was a visual issue with the right call being made.
  • The ‘Too Late’ indicator, part of the Timed Finishing mechanic, was not displaying on the screen long enough.
  • Timed Finishing indicators were appearing on the screen in some situations despite the player having them disabled.
  • Visual issue when switching between camera views when taking a free kick.
  • Various issues with the camera placement in various stadiums and situations.
  • Sometimes the referees were invisible during the handshake sequence of the pre-match scene.
  • Motion blur was present on players following some camera transitions.
  • Goalkeepers kit was not displaying on the Team Management screen when playing as FC Augsburg.
  • The Mystery Ball widget was overlapping with the set piece overlay.
  • Overlay is shown over the pitch when selecting Restart Match during the streaming install match.
  • Added pictures for Derek and Lee to the pre-match cinematic.
  • Managers were sometimes walking onto the pitch in the middle of the match.
  • PC SPECIFIC: Framerate issues when playing on some DirectX 12 supported GPUs.
  • Various issues with TIFO placement in stadiums.
  • Various visual issues with the crowd.
  • Various issues related to the broadcast overlay packages shown during a match.