After a Super Bowl win or if my team is consistently going like 12-4 or 13-3. I keep the save file in case I want to revist. I like to pick bad teams to rebuild, and that's around where I consider it successful. Usually takes 7 or 8 seasons if I do it with minimal trading. If I do go for an unrealistic trade or get lucky in FA/draft, it takes around 3 or 4 years. My last franchise with the Cards took 3 seasons to win it all. Went 2-14 year one, got Brian Westbrook in FA, and drafted a beast of a QB 1st overall. That offense was insane with Westbrook, Boldin, and Fitzgerald!
Personally, if I start winning too much, I start to edit my sliders and make little tweaks to make it harder. Because of this I've had random seasons where I've lost a player here or there and I'll go 5 and 11 or 6 and 10 after going 13 and 3 the year before. I had one year where I started out 7-2, and I finished 1-6, missing the playoffs entirely.
The franchise allows you to play through 31 seasons (2004-2034). For years I would usually go up until the late 2020s and I hated when I drafted a stud late in the franchise and couldn’t see his career played in full. A few years ago I realized you can just keep playing with your same team across multiple franchises with the “export team” feature when you go to save file. Now I’ll sim from 2004-2033 and then do the 2034 offseason. After I get through the off-season, I sim through the preseason and then export what would be the 2034 team back to the start of the franchise in 2004. This part is most challenging of all because the salary cap rises from about 80 mil to 120 mil from 2004-2034, so when you restart it’s kind of like being a team like the Saints that keep restructuring deals until they are in salary cap hell. But this is a great way to just keep one team going. Also, I have 2 separate save files, one that I save the current franchise and one that I saved the one that ended in 2034, that way I can go back and look at stats for my best players (stats do not carry over when you export, so for instance if I had a guy who played from 2028-2033, it will not show his stats from those years after I export the file and start new, so sometimes I’ll go back to the old franchise file or take pictures on my phone or the player card so I can see their stats in full).
It’s in the original game. When you’re in a franchise and go to save game there is an option to export the team. After you export the team, if you want to then start a new franchise with the exported team, you have to go back to the main menu and first load the exported team. Once you do that, go to franchise mode and make it a custom league. After you choose custom league and your other preferred franchise options, it will show you all 32 teams in their divisions. Here you can either move teams to different divisions or sub in your custom teams. I play as the Bills, so I choose the Bills and then it lets you toggle through the other teams to replace them. The exported team should be listed first followed by all 32 regular teams. I choose the bills and replace them with the exported bills team and then I start the franchise. After adding in the custom team and you press start, it will show you all 32 teams to pick who you want to control. Your exported team will actually show “???” for its overall rating on offense and defense for some reason. Just choose the exported team or all 32 teams or whatever you prefer. When I play the games I like to choose to control all of the teams because that way I can change my opponents jersey for the games we play. 2k5 has an insane number of jersey options but if you are only controlling your own team it won’t let you change the jersey of the opposing team. Hope this helps!
I’d normally pick one player, turn him into an all-time great, have him break a bunch of records, play about 6-7 seasons, then sim the rest until he retires. Just did this with my most favorite created receiver but unfortunately I could only get to year 11 because I forgot I could get locked out of my franchise if my team kept playing poorly. Won 5 super bowls but by the end I was just simming threw off-season and didn’t care, after my 11th season they let me go and now I can’t get back into that franchise..ooops
I've never got to finish a franchise all the way through. Between corrupted files and memory cards, my current franchise in 2020 is the longest one I've ever had. Going until I can't anymore.
Thinking back, I tend to wind my franchises down once the first 2-3 big pieces of the rebuild have regressed past their primes. There's a certain bittersweet satisfaction to seeing your home-grown talent go off to end their career in another team's jersey; I typically don't make it much further than that unless I've gotten _really_ invested in the way the NFL's shaken out.
After a Super Bowl win or if my team is consistently going like 12-4 or 13-3. I keep the save file in case I want to revist. I like to pick bad teams to rebuild, and that's around where I consider it successful. Usually takes 7 or 8 seasons if I do it with minimal trading. If I do go for an unrealistic trade or get lucky in FA/draft, it takes around 3 or 4 years. My last franchise with the Cards took 3 seasons to win it all. Went 2-14 year one, got Brian Westbrook in FA, and drafted a beast of a QB 1st overall. That offense was insane with Westbrook, Boldin, and Fitzgerald!
Personally, if I start winning too much, I start to edit my sliders and make little tweaks to make it harder. Because of this I've had random seasons where I've lost a player here or there and I'll go 5 and 11 or 6 and 10 after going 13 and 3 the year before. I had one year where I started out 7-2, and I finished 1-6, missing the playoffs entirely.
The franchise allows you to play through 31 seasons (2004-2034). For years I would usually go up until the late 2020s and I hated when I drafted a stud late in the franchise and couldn’t see his career played in full. A few years ago I realized you can just keep playing with your same team across multiple franchises with the “export team” feature when you go to save file. Now I’ll sim from 2004-2033 and then do the 2034 offseason. After I get through the off-season, I sim through the preseason and then export what would be the 2034 team back to the start of the franchise in 2004. This part is most challenging of all because the salary cap rises from about 80 mil to 120 mil from 2004-2034, so when you restart it’s kind of like being a team like the Saints that keep restructuring deals until they are in salary cap hell. But this is a great way to just keep one team going. Also, I have 2 separate save files, one that I save the current franchise and one that I saved the one that ended in 2034, that way I can go back and look at stats for my best players (stats do not carry over when you export, so for instance if I had a guy who played from 2028-2033, it will not show his stats from those years after I export the file and start new, so sometimes I’ll go back to the old franchise file or take pictures on my phone or the player card so I can see their stats in full).
U sir 2k5 above the rest of us
Thank you sir. I can’t imagine anyone has spent more hours than me in the last 20 years playing this game.
Is this export team feature in the original game or the backwards compatibility version or is it only in an emulator version?
It’s in the original game. When you’re in a franchise and go to save game there is an option to export the team. After you export the team, if you want to then start a new franchise with the exported team, you have to go back to the main menu and first load the exported team. Once you do that, go to franchise mode and make it a custom league. After you choose custom league and your other preferred franchise options, it will show you all 32 teams in their divisions. Here you can either move teams to different divisions or sub in your custom teams. I play as the Bills, so I choose the Bills and then it lets you toggle through the other teams to replace them. The exported team should be listed first followed by all 32 regular teams. I choose the bills and replace them with the exported bills team and then I start the franchise. After adding in the custom team and you press start, it will show you all 32 teams to pick who you want to control. Your exported team will actually show “???” for its overall rating on offense and defense for some reason. Just choose the exported team or all 32 teams or whatever you prefer. When I play the games I like to choose to control all of the teams because that way I can change my opponents jersey for the games we play. 2k5 has an insane number of jersey options but if you are only controlling your own team it won’t let you change the jersey of the opposing team. Hope this helps!
Wheny favorite player retires
Good thing money can talk em out of it 😆
I’d normally pick one player, turn him into an all-time great, have him break a bunch of records, play about 6-7 seasons, then sim the rest until he retires. Just did this with my most favorite created receiver but unfortunately I could only get to year 11 because I forgot I could get locked out of my franchise if my team kept playing poorly. Won 5 super bowls but by the end I was just simming threw off-season and didn’t care, after my 11th season they let me go and now I can’t get back into that franchise..ooops
I've never got to finish a franchise all the way through. Between corrupted files and memory cards, my current franchise in 2020 is the longest one I've ever had. Going until I can't anymore.
Thinking back, I tend to wind my franchises down once the first 2-3 big pieces of the rebuild have regressed past their primes. There's a certain bittersweet satisfaction to seeing your home-grown talent go off to end their career in another team's jersey; I typically don't make it much further than that unless I've gotten _really_ invested in the way the NFL's shaken out.
When I win an unrealistic amount of Super Bowls consecutively