Alright boyz, here we go!!! Eastside Hockey Manager 2007 First Impressions Thread!

[Hurst2112]

I've been a member since 99. Also, as a pre-order customer, I think I have a right to start this glorious thread.

Its 4 am CST. according to reports, I have another 4 hours to wait.

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

Its 4 am CST. according to reports, I have another 4 hours to wait.

I was hoping it would be ready for DL before I left for work. Oh well....

[Hurst2112]

no crap. i thought it would be ready at 12:01 GMT before I heard from SI tonight.

I can wait.

[Fouts]

Hmm, almost 3am here, stay up and wait or get a few hours of sleep? I wish I could find the countdown clock.

[Icy]

2 hours to go, how slow runs the clock when you are waiting and how fast does it run when you are playing.

[Fouts]

Ugh, I stayed up to start the download, but no link yet. :(

[Honolulu_Blue]

I've been a member since 99. Also, as a pre-order customer, I think I have a right to start this glorious thread.

Its 4 am CST. according to reports, I have another 4 hours to wait.

I'm at work.

So when you get back from your smoke break let us know if the download is available, ok? ;)

[Ksyrup]

Maybe you guys should have started a download thread before the actual impressions thread!

[Pumpy Tudors]

Does anyone remember if you can set up your own league structure in the "try and buy" version of last year's game? Since I won't be able to purchase for another week, it's good that I'll have six months of game time to play through with the demo, but am I limited to quickstarts?

[FrogMan]

Does anyone remember if you can set up your own league structure in the "try and buy" version of last year's game? Since I won't be able to purchase for another week, it's good that I'll have six months of game time to play through with the demo, but am I limited to quickstarts?

Yes we could in last year's version because that's what I did. Never got into the game really and stopped playing just at the 180 days limit (only to go back to a revived FM2006 career). The timing now, with FM coming in certainly over a month, has me thinking of trying it again...

FM

[Pumpy Tudors]

Good news, FrogMan. Thanks. I'll be playing this game over the weekend, then. :)

[Galaril]

Maybe you guys should have started a download thread before the actual impressions thread!

LoL. No kidding.

[sachmo71]

Some people just like big threadcount in their threads.

[Bee]

I haven't followed this release very close. Is this supposed to be close to the same level of interaction as FM2007 or is it closer to FM2006? I thought the last version felt a year behind in depth and I'm just curious if the gap has been narrowed.

[sachmo71]

I haven't followed this release very close. Is this supposed to be close to the same level of interaction as FM2007 or is it closer to FM2006? I thought the last version felt a year behind in depth and I'm just curious if the gap has been narrowed.

From some of the dev chat, it appears your staff is a lot more interactive with you on opinons about trades, etc, and scouting can only get better. A little more personality from the players, and I'm in heaven.

Also, it will be nice to play with the Stars out from under Guerin's contract. :)

[Bee]

Yep, I'm hoping to see better interaction and more player personality than last year. I don't expect it to be at the same level as FM07 but I'm hoping for something closer in that area than last year's version.

[Joe Canadian]

E-mails are on the way...

[scooter]

I am downloading now...:D

[FrogMan]

E-mails are on the way...

meaning us regular people should be able to download the try and buy in five hours, if I got that right from the SI forum, right?

And scooter, how is the download speed?

FM

[Icy]

I am downloading now...:D

Lucky bastard, clicking on send/receive all the time and i don't get he email.

[FrogMan]

Lucky bastard, clicking on send/receive all the time and i don't get he email.


that's because you pre-ordered too early :p

FM

[Joe Canadian]

SI's download site is horribly slow... around 4kbps. The rapid share site is going at around 90 kbps.

[Icy]

that's because you pre-ordered too early :p

FM

Lol yeah, i also received the discount cupon after having it preordered already, i was too fast preordering, won't do it again ever.

[FrogMan]

Lol yeah, i also received the discount cupon after having it preordered already, i was too fast preordering, won't do it again ever.

that's why I said that, remembered your sad story :)

FM

[scooter]

And scooter, how is the download speed?

FM

I started out at 10.5 kb/sec and now it's down to 7. I'm currently looking at a download time of 4.5 hours with 3% downloaded!

There were two download sites to choose from. I picked SI's site.

[FrogMan]

SI's download site is horribly slow... around 4kbps. The rapid share site is going at around 90 kbps.

oh, so they put a mirror on rapidshare already? good idea.

FM

[Icy]

I started out at 10.5 kb/sec and now it's down to 7. I'm currently looking at a download time of 4.5 hours with 3% downloaded!

There were two download sites to choose from. I picked SI's site.

Stop it and choose the other link, it's reported to be downlaoding at 100kb.

[Icy]

Finally got the damn email, downloading woot!!

[Joe Canadian]

Some people are downloading at 400+ kbps... they must have really fast connections.

[Draft Dodger]

yeah, this is going to take a while

[scooter]

Stop it and choose the other link, it's reported to be downlaoding at 100kb.

Thanks. I'm now up to about 65 KB/sec. Much better. Still not great, but I'll take 30 minutes over 4.5 hours!

[Icy]

yeah, this is going to take a while

Yes i'm going to the gym and will be back to play it later.

Frogman, the try and buy version has just been announced to be available at 11PM UK time.

[Joe Canadian]

Installing now...

[Capital]

I haven't received my email yet...although I just bought it about 8:00 EST this morning.

[Joe Canadian]

I haven't received my email yet...although I just bought it about 8:00 EST this morning.

You're still considered part of the pre-order group according to Duffy...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Damn youse! Don't you people have jobs?!?! :)

[FrogMan]

Frogman, the try and buy version has just been announced to be available at 11PM UK time.

cool, thanks for the info. That makes it 6pm eastern. Time to have dinner, set the download and install it in the evening...

FM

[Joe Canadian]

Yeah... so I'll see you all in a few hours. :D

[Capital]

Can't seem to find Marc Duffy's email address...anyone know?

[Icy]

Can't seem to find Marc Duffy's email address...anyone know?

Just pmed it to you.

[Capital]

Icy...got it...thanks

[SackAttack]

Can't seem to find Marc Duffy's email address...anyone know?

When in doubt, [email protected] has served me pretty well over the years.

[Icy]

When in doubt, [email protected] has served me pretty well over the years.

You would have guessed it right this time too :)

[SackAttack]

You would have gessed it right this time too :)

You'd be amazed how many companies use that format, or a variant of it. Makes things ridiculously easy for me in PR-land when I need to get in touch with a company, and all I have is a name.

[Johnny93g]

Well, so far i feel a little overwhelmed, but im doing ok. Im the Leafs obviously, and the first thing i saw was that Aki Berg' rights were still owned by the Leafs. So i offered his rights all over the NHL.

Got 3 offers:
St. Louis- Lee Stempniak, a 23 year old who scored 14 goals in 50+ games as a rookie straight up for Berg

Phoenix- A 23 year old forward i never heard of who played 9 nhl games last season

Rangers- Colton Orr, a young energy type player, who is still looking to become a regular

Wow, I didnt realize old Aki had value. I will accept the Blues offer, then try to make cap room for the kid:D

[Johnny93g]

The Devils already start dumping salary sending Langenbruner to the Blackhawks for a 4th round pick. This is definatly a positive sign!!

[Hurst2112]

Some people just like big threadcount in their threads.

I just did it so I can get in a fight with one of the mods in about a month and be a big baby and delete the thread. post losses galore.

j/k

By the way HB, I quit smoking.

[Draft Dodger]

for some reason, only a few player photos are showing up, even though there are tons in the directory.

[Joe Canadian]

The trade features are awesome... it's so easy to dump a player now... and so far teams respond almost right way to offers.

[sachmo71]

I just did it so I can get in a fight with one of the mods in about a month and be a big baby and delete the thread. post losses galore.

j/k

By the way HB, I quit smoking.

evil

[riz]

for some reason, only a few player photos are showing up, even though there are tons in the directory.

We have only been able to put in the player pictures provided by the licensed leagues. Most of them will be from the minor pro's and some european leagues.

[Honolulu_Blue]

By the way HB, I quit smoking.

Excellent! :)

Less talk. More "impressions."

[riz]

The trade features are awesome... it's so easy to dump a player now... and so far teams respond almost right way to offers.

Glad you like it :)

[Joe Canadian]

I made this comment last year and it seems no one saw it... Michael Ryder on the Canadiens is not from St. John's, Newfoundland. He is from Bonivista, Newfoundland. And the abbriviation for the province of Newfoundland is not NF... it is NL.

[Icy]

for some reason, only a few player photos are showing up, even though there are tons in the directory.

I was wondering the same, i also copied all the extra pics i had from 2k5 but still tons of players without pic, and i'm talking about big stars not just rookies.

[JeffR]

I've seen Ryder's birthplace listed as both places - Bonavista's the correct one, then? (And you'd think a Newfie would know not to spell it with an 'i'. ;) )

[Ksyrup]

I made this comment last year and it seems no one saw it... Michael Ryder on the Canadiens is not from St. John's, Newfoundland. He is from Bonivista, Newfoundland. And the abbriviation for the province of Newfoundland is not NF... it is NL.

That's it, I was going to buy this, but NO MORE!

[SirFozzie]

When will it be released to the general public?

[JeffR]

When will it be released to the general public?

6 PM Eastern.

[Marc Duffy]

In about an hour.

[SirFozzie]

Cool Marc.. I just put an order in.. and hope to get a head start on downloading it while I'm at work :)

[KJDelaney]

Thank you Riz, Marc, et al.

Great Work.

From a long suffering Boston Bruins fan, thank you.

[Galaril]

That's it, I was going to buy this, but NO MORE!

Yeah, I know don't take this the wrong way but who gives a fuck it is just a text sim hockey pc game.:rolleyes:

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, I know don't take this the wrong way but who gives a fuck it is just a text sim hockey pc game.:rolleyes:

Um.. Galaril.. your sarcasm detector is on the fritz again.

[Galaril]

Um.. Galaril.. your sarcasm detector is on the fritz again.

Sorry... wrong emoticon

[sabotai]

Excellent! :)

Less talk. More "impressions."

By the way HB, I started smoking again. ;)

[Young Drachma]

Wow, it's already out. I don't keep up. Awesome.

[dervack]

I'm getting ready to dl the demo now, and probably purchase it later tonight.

[Capital]

Questions to those who have played previous versions:

1. Is there a way to have the computer control the scouts? That's part of the game that I don't think I want to control. I never really liked that part of FM/CM. Although I haven't played those games in a couple of years.

2. Fog of War...I understand the concept...but do people use it? Correct me if I am wrong, but would I even need to use scouting (assuming I have to control it), if I turn off the fog of war.

3. If anyone is using the fantasy draft concept, are you including prospects?

Back to trying to understand the interface...I wish there was an easier way to alter your lines. Unless I'm missing something, and that's certainly possible, the only to do it is to click on the player's number and then move the mouse back to the appropriate line. Is that correct?

[JeffR]

1. Is there a way to have the computer control the scouts? That's part of the game that I don't think I want to control. I never really liked that part of FM/CM. Although I haven't played those games in a couple of years.

Nope, no way to assign them automatically. But give it a try...the scouting system is one place, IMO, where EHM outshines FM. You get better feedback, and once you've set the scouts up initially, you don't necessarily need to keep going back and sending them out over and over again.

2. Fog of War...I understand the concept...but do people use it? Correct me if I am wrong, but would I even need to use scouting (assuming I have to control it), if I turn off the fog of war.

Yup, you'd still need to use it. Without fog of war on, you'll see attribute values displayed properly, but still no more than a basic idea about overall ability - and nothing about the player's intangibles.

[FrogMan]

The try and buy is up on eastsidehockeymanager.net but it send you to sigame.com which is sooooo slooooow. Marc Duffy posted this mirror on the Si Games forum:
http://www.worthdownloading.com/game.php?gid=2196

Downloaded in less than 20 minutes I'd say (set it and went downstairs, got back and it's now finished)... I took the mirror #2 USa...

FM

[Izulde]

How's the sim speed? Yeah I know that's kinda jbmagic-ish, but it's my biggest pet peeve with SI games.

[sabotai]

Just fired up the demo, but I'm heading out soon so won't get much time with it. First thing I notice, Moose Jaw has high expectations and are real contenders, apparently. I don't want to take over a high rated team, so when I do get around to starting my new dynasty, looks like I'll be grabbing a different team. Probably go to the OHL and QJMHL to change things up a bit.

[sabotai]

*sigh*

Damn my social life!!! Damn you SI!!!

Damn it all!!!

Anyway, watching the games on Normal or Slow (seems to be the "real time" setting) is a bit choppy. It is noticable, but acceptable. Besides, you'll probably have it on at least Fast for most of the game if you plan on watching (otherwise games would take over an hour to sim. I know I ain't doing that).

Don't even think of putting it on Fast Forward though (unless you want to get to the end of the period). It took me several tries to select a different speed because the menu kept disappearing.

What surprised me a bit was the sound. It sounds like a hockey game! Even has some good heavy music playing when the game has been stopped! The crowds sound very good as well. (Note: I never watched the games previously so maybe I missed the sound if it was in last year's game)

Anyway....my social life is calling and I have to leave. :(

[TroyF]

Just fooled around with the fantasy draft feature. This Wojtek Wolski must be one hell of a player. My entire coaching staff wanted me to draft him with the third pick. I drafted Crosby instead.

After the draft, I decide I'll try to deal for him. He's next to untouchable. I offer Crosby straight up for him and my GM tells me I'm an idiot and the other GM tells me my offer can't be serious.

As an Avs fan, I hope he ends up being that good. :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

My wife just asked me to download the Try & Buy on her computer. Uh oh. If we're both playing, we may never see daylight again.

[Draft Dodger]

I was wondering the same, i also copied all the extra pics i had from 2k5 but still tons of players without pic, and i'm talking about big stars not just rookies.

so at least the format is the same?

[sachmo71]

I've been spoiled by all of the pictures added by modders in the last version. :(

[Ksyrup]

Is there a manual for this game? I downloaded the trial and I want to give this a shot, but I'm not the type of person who just jumps in without a good understanding of what the game entails, what certain parts of the game do, and what certain things mean.

Just from the first couple of screens, trying to set up a basic game brought up these questions:

What is the difference between standard and enhanced?

When it says I can start as an unemployed GM, does that mean this game is set up for me to start in a low league and work my way up to the NHL, or can I start in the NHL and stay there? Is being fired always part of the game, or can that be turned off?

There are so many basic questions like this that are keeping me from even starting to play the demo because there is no explanation of any of this that I can find. It's very frustrating, intimidating, and completely the opposite of how I like to play a game. I need to know the ground rules before I can decide how I want to play.

[Draft Dodger]

2k5 had a pretty decent learning curve. it was a while before I figured out there was a manual and it helped a great deal.

there was no manual with my download. I wonder it that's coming later.

[Ksyrup]

Sadly, I'm just not sure I have the patience for that kind of gaming experience.

[Sweed]

2k5 had a pretty decent learning curve. it was a while before I figured out there was a manual and it helped a great deal.

there was no manual with my download. I wonder it that's coming later.

There's a "manuals" folder in the main game folder with pdf manuals in different languages.

c:\program files\sports interactive\nhl eastside....\manuals

[Sweed]

I've been spoiled by all of the pictures added by modders in the last version. :(


Haven't had a chance to play much yet but this so far is a huge disappointment.

Pictures = immersion for me.

I guess I've done without in fof and fbcb, so not the end of the world.

[Ksyrup]

There's a "manuals" folder in the main game folder with pdf manuals in different languages.

c:\program files\sports interactive\nhl eastside....\manuals


Cool, thanks!

[Joe Canadian]

I've seen Ryder's birthplace listed as both places - Bonavista's the correct one, then? (And you'd think a Newfie would know not to spell it with an 'i'. ;) )

:)

And yes, Ryder was born in Bonavista just like his brother Dan who plays on the Petes of the OHL. I should know my Aunt lives across the street from the house he grew up in...

[Capital]

If one elects to not use prospects in a fantasy draft, does that mean that prospects remain with their current team?

If you check the prospects button, the draft goes from 32 rounds to 50.

[Router Help]

Only simmed 2 weeks so far, but so far so good. I really like the interface. There is a lot of info, but I don't feel overwhelmed like I did in OOTP.

[bhlloy]

A lot of 2006 draftees right's are missing... I was able to get Brian Little, Bob Sanguinetti and Ben Shutron and somebody else (Cory Emmerton?) as FA's. Strangely nobody else in the NHL was interested.

Other than that... looks very good.

[SackAttack]

I'm liking the interface and how quickly everything is loading for me. That's a good sign.

[sachmo71]

I'm liking the interface and how quickly everything is loading for me. That's a good sign.

Yes, it seems to run much faster than 2005.

[SackAttack]

Yes, it seems to run much faster than 2005.

Yeah it does.

One thing I'm a little put off by, the game mentions season ticket sales, but I can't find anywhere to see what the total capacity of my arena is so I can see whether I'm doing well or poorly in that regard.

[sachmo71]

I'm really liking the improvements to the tactics screen. It's easy to see if you are setting tactics for a position (like 3rd line LW) or a specific player. The sliders are easy to understand, and I really like the addition of the ratings for the lines.

For example, when you first go into the tactics screen, you can set player tactics that will stay with him through all of the lines.
There is an option to set them for all situations, or break the individual tactics down into even strenght, powerplay, and penalty kill. It also shows you every line that a player is assigned to which is a big help.
There are sliders for about ten attributes that you can set:

Mentality
Aggressiveness
Backchecking
Gap Control (new)
Puck Pressure (used to be forecheck, I think)
Hitting
Tempo (new)
Passing
Shooting
Dumping the puck (new)

as well as the old shoot\pass tendancy, fighting orders, carry puck, join rush.
It also allows you to assign the player to check here, which is really great, because you can quickly assign your best defenseman to shadow the other teams top player and avoid the need to go to a specific line screen to do it.

To be honest, I always wanted to do more with tactics in the last version of EHM, but it could get to be such a beating trying to set everything for every line when you are subbing guys in and out all of the time. This way, if you know that your 4th line center will always play defensively, you can set the tactics that way and leave it.

Great improvement.



More kudos...I love the Front Office screen. Having all the info on a single page is going to be a godsend in the doldrums of a season.

Oops...I just discovered the team tactics screen. Mouth watering...must go play!

[sachmo71]

Well, so far i feel a little overwhelmed, but im doing ok. Im the Leafs obviously, and the first thing i saw was that Aki Berg' rights were still owned by the Leafs. So i offered his rights all over the NHL.

Got 3 offers:
St. Louis- Lee Stempniak, a 23 year old who scored 14 goals in 50+ games as a rookie straight up for Berg

Phoenix- A 23 year old forward i never heard of who played 9 nhl games last season

Rangers- Colton Orr, a young energy type player, who is still looking to become a regular

Wow, I didnt realize old Aki had value. I will accept the Blues offer, then try to make cap room for the kid:D


how do you offer the rights?

[Joe Canadian]

Hmmm... DiPietro's contract is only for one year...

[Joe Canadian]

how do you offer the rights?

Click "Approach to Trade" under any team in the league... don't add any players from that team, just add the rights of the player you want to trade... then click "Offer To All".

[Joe Canadian]

Yeah it does.

One thing I'm a little put off by, the game mentions season ticket sales, but I can't find anywhere to see what the total capacity of my arena is so I can see whether I'm doing well or poorly in that regard.

It's under the Team Info screen... same as last year.

[jbmagic]

Does team strategy sliders override individual sliders?

[Icy]

so at least the format is the same?

Yes, Riz said at SI forums that 2k5 picture packs would work also in 2k7.

[sachmo71]

Yes, Riz said at SI forums that 2k5 picture packs would work also in 2k7.

they do, i've confirmed it!!! good job, riz and company! :)

[Scholes]

Quick question, does this work like FM, where, if I start out in a lower league like the QMJHL, will I be able to take NHL jobs (if I perform well enough) eventually??

[riz]

Quick question, does this work like FM, where, if I start out in a lower league like the QMJHL, will I be able to take NHL jobs (if I perform well enough) eventually??

Yes, it works like that. Read here for some interesting memoirs of some career recaps of users who played the 2005 version:http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6461934525/m/8682094652

[Icy]

Quick question, does this work like FM, where, if I start out in a lower league like the QMJHL, will I be able to take NHL jobs (if I perform well enough) eventually??

Yes, but it could take some time to get the required prestige to coach in the NHL.

[Icy]

Ok, i have some hockey newbie questions about contracts, specially about rights ownerships, minors movements and waivers as i see them really different from baseball for example.

I have started managing the Florida Panthers, i have two minor teams, Rochester in the AHL and Florida in the ECHL.

I saw there some guys who could be ready to play in the NHL team and i would like to test them in the training camps. I can't invite them so i guess my only option is to call them up to the NHL team. My questions are:

1- Once i end the camp, if i want to demote them again to the minors, do they need to pass waivers?

2- Is there any way to sign FA's or players from other leagues not the NHL and put them in the minors directly? any penalization for doing so? do they need to clear waivers? Else, how can i fill my minor teams with players?

3- What is the player status apropiate for players in the minors? only young prospects or can they be regular or fringe players without geting upset?

4- I see a lot of players listed as owned my me but unsigned. I guess are the players i drafted so i have their rights, but do i need to sign them to put them in my minors? is there any advantage/disvantage of having them in other teams (like in othe rleagues or countries) instead of in my minors? Do my rights over them end after X time or will them always be mine? I also see players with rights owned by me who are transfered betwen other teams (not NHL), if i own the rights, how could they be transfered between teams?

5- What is the reserve list?

6- Is there any place where to learn all this stuff and not needing to bother you guys with all my hockey noob questions?

Thanks in advance.

[Galaril]

Is there expansion in any of the leagues over time?

[twothree]

Just purchased it from the website. Thank you, for using elicense.

[Joe Canadian]

Is there expansion in any of the leagues over time?

Nope.

[Joe Canadian]

How does the networking play work?

[SirFozzie]

From what I've seen, like FM2006.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I saw there some guys who could be ready to play in the NHL team and i would like to test them in the training camps. I can't invite them so i guess my only option is to call them up to the NHL team. My questions are:

1- Once i end the camp, if i want to demote them again to the minors, do they need to pass waivers?

2- Is there any way to sign FA's or players from other leagues not the NHL and put them in the minors directly? any penalization for doing so? do they need to clear waivers? Else, how can i fill my minor teams with players?

3- What is the player status apropiate for players in the minors? only young prospects or can they be regular or fringe players without geting upset?

4- I see a lot of players listed as owned my me but unsigned. I guess are the players i drafted so i have their rights, but do i need to sign them to put them in my minors? is there any advantage/disvantage of having them in other teams (like in othe rleagues or countries) instead of in my minors? Do my rights over them end after X time or will them always be mine? I also see players with rights owned by me who are transfered betwen other teams (not NHL), if i own the rights, how could they be transfered between teams?

5- What is the reserve list?

6- Is there any place where to learn all this stuff and not needing to bother you guys with all my hockey noob questions?

Some of my answers here are based on my experience with last year's game. Others are educated guesses. People are free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

1- You don't need to worry about waivers until the season starts. As long as you demote the players before the regular season begins, they don't need to clear waivers.

2- Yes, you can sign players and assign them to the minors without penalty or waivers.

3- It's probably a little difficult to keep a "regular" player happy in the minors, but you can send them down. To use a real-life example from last year, the New Jersey Devils sent Alexander Mogilny to the minors early in the season. Mogilny was once considered a star in the NHL, and he ended up spending practically all of last season in the minors. I think he was pretty unhappy at first, but he finally dealt with it and played in the minors. Ultimately, you need to do what's best for your team, and if you have to send a regular player down, do it.

4- Yes, you need to sign a player before you can put him in the minors. In many cases, it's better to leave them wherever they are. If you draft a foreign player, he may be playing against better competition overseas than he'd be facing in your minor leagues. Also, he'd be more comfortable in his home country. Unless you're bringing a guy over for your NHL team, it's generally better to let him grow up and develop in a place that he's familiar with. Also, you don't have to pay him. As for the player being transferred within other leagues, you only have his NHL rights. If he's in another league, he can switch teams without any input from you. As far as I know, your NHL rights do not expire. If you finally feel ready to bring the player over (even if it's 5 years after you drafted him), you can try to sign him to a contract. There's no guarantee that he'll accept, but you can try.

5- I don't know what the reserve list is. Maybe it's the injured reserve list, in which case a player has to stay on the list for a certain number of days before he can be reactivated. It's certainly nothing like a reserve team in soccer, if you're wondering about that.

6- I don't know if there's any place to find all this information. I kinda just figured it out through trial and error, so I may not be 100% correct on all this. :)

[Joe Canadian]

From what I've seen, like FM2006.

How does it work in FM? :)

[SirFozzie]

one person creates a game, selecting "Run as server"

He gives you the IP address (and the password to connect)..

you connect, create your coach, and you're off. Usually they have rules to prevent one person from delaying the whole group (for example, in our FM2006 Netgame, CW has a rule that once 50% of the people are ready, the rest have 1 minute to get their work done before it forces a continue.

[Joe Canadian]

one person creates a game, selecting "Run as server"

He gives you the IP address (and the password to connect)..

you connect, create your coach, and you're off. Usually they have rules to prevent one person from delaying the whole group (for example, in our FM2006 Netgame, CW has a rule that once 50% of the people are ready, the rest have 1 minute to get their work done before it forces a continue.

Could you give me a rundown of how a network game usually runs? Like when do you play, what does each GM have to do, etc.

[SirFozzie]

Ok, in our net game, The usual hours are 8 PM-10PM CDT (the hours CW sets for the game)

about 15 minutes before hand, he'll load the game, and announce it here, so we can connect.. If we can't make a session, our 2nd in command controls the team.

Once we connect, at 8 PM the designated start time, CW sets it so we can continue, and we go through the days as normal, making any changes necessary to our teams, playing games (if humans are playing on a certain game day, and if you're not playing, you can watch any game in progress or just work on your team).

When 10 PM CDT comes around, CW announces the server's closing, and then at the next opportunity, saves the game.

[Draft Dodger]

Some of my answers here are based on my experience with last year's game. Others are educated guesses. People are free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

1- You don't need to worry about waivers until the season starts. As long as you demote the players before the regular season begins, they don't need to clear waivers.

2- Yes, you can sign players and assign them to the minors without penalty or waivers.


I don't believe either of this are correct, fwiw. Once you've played enough games / spent enough time on a roster, you become eligible for waivers, and must clear waivers to go back down. At the end of the preseason (RL and in the game) you'll see a slew of waiver moves as eligible players get sent to the minors. That continues throughout the season. Andy Hilbert, for example, was traded by Boston to Chicago last year when Boston knew they wouldn't be able to send him down without waiving him. Chicago later tried to send him down and Pittsburgh claimed him.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors View Post
Some of my answers here are based on my experience with last year's game. Others are educated guesses. People are free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

1- You don't need to worry about waivers until the season starts. As long as you demote the players before the regular season begins, they don't need to clear waivers.

2- Yes, you can sign players and assign them to the minors without penalty or waivers.




I don't believe either of this are correct, fwiw. Once you've played enough games / spent enough time on a roster, you become eligible for waivers, and must clear waivers to go back down. At the end of the preseason (RL and in the game) you'll see a slew of waiver moves as eligible players get sent to the minors. That continues throughout the season. Andy Hilbert, for example, was traded by Boston to Chicago last year when Boston knew they wouldn't be able to send him down without waiving him. Chicago later tried to send him down and Pittsburgh claimed him.

I'm not sure yet for 2007 how the preseason is going to work. I did notice though that the player card says someting like

waivers: eligible for regular season waivers

I don't have a 2005 game to look back at (unintalled) but I don't recall it being worded that way (though it may have been).

So as I'm just starting my first training camp I'm hoping that they don't have to clear in preseason. If they do then lesson learned for when I start my serious dynasty.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I don't believe either of this are correct, fwiw. Once you've played enough games / spent enough time on a roster, you become eligible for waivers, and must clear waivers to go back down. At the end of the preseason (RL and in the game) you'll see a slew of waiver moves as eligible players get sent to the minors. That continues throughout the season. Andy Hilbert, for example, was traded by Boston to Chicago last year when Boston knew they wouldn't be able to send him down without waiving him. Chicago later tried to send him down and Pittsburgh claimed him.
I guess I was thinking about a player who was in the minors last season (like Mogilny or Dan McGillis). I would imagine that the Devils could bring them up for training camp or the preseason, but they would not have to clear waivers again if they get sent back to the AHL before the season starts. I may be wrong about that, too, but it may have looked like I was saying that you can send anybody down to the minors without waivers in preseason. That's not what I meant, but I may have been wrong anyway.

I didn't know about the Hilbert situation, but I was thinking about signing free agents. Can you sign a free agent and immediately assign him to the minors without putting him through waivers? That's what I'd meant, but that could be wrong.

Thanks for bringing these things up, though, because I was thinking of specific cases, and I'm sure that Icy needs more complete information, so every little bit helps.

[Galaril]

http://archibalduk.ehmtheblueline.com/site/index.php

This is guide put together by a guy for EHM 2005 version.It is a good elaboration on th manual.

[Draft Dodger]

I guess I was thinking about a player who was in the minors last season (like Mogilny or Dan McGillis). I would imagine that the Devils could bring them up for training camp or the preseason, but they would not have to clear waivers again if they get sent back to the AHL before the season starts. I may be wrong about that, too, but it may have looked like I was saying that you can send anybody down to the minors without waivers in preseason. That's not what I meant, but I may have been wrong anyway.

I didn't know about the Hilbert situation, but I was thinking about signing free agents. Can you sign a free agent and immediately assign him to the minors without putting him through waivers? That's what I'd meant, but that could be wrong.

Thanks for bringing these things up, though, because I was thinking of specific cases, and I'm sure that Icy needs more complete information, so every little bit helps.

they both would have had to clear waivers to go to the AHL. Once they did, they aren't eligible for waivers again until, iirc, they play in 10 NHL games or spend 30 days on an NHL roster. That, at least, is how it is in EHM 2005. I have no idea how that corresponds to real life or 2007.

as for the free agent - if you are the GM of an NHL team, I think if you sign him to a contract, it's an NHL contract, so yes he'd have to be waived (if eligible) to go to the AHL. Now, if you were an AHL GM, you could certainly sign him to an AHL contract.

now, take my posts with a ginormous grain of salt, as all of it is just my interpretation, mostly based on 2k5. Hockey roster rules are bizarre.

[Draft Dodger]

the waiver rules are in the manual (section 11.2), but are too confusing to paraphrase. plus, I've had several glasses of wine.

[bhlloy]

The way I see it DD is pretty close. Certainly in EHM 2005, and from what I have seen also this year.

It all comes down to pro "experience" IIRC... if a guy has only played in juniors then he can be sent down without being waived, but once he has a certain number of games in a pro league you are pretty much SOL. However, I believe if he doesn't have the pro experience, he can be signed and sent straight down to another league.

Complicating matters is that certain players can't be sent to the AHL at all, they can only be kept on the NHL roster or sent back to juniors. I'm not sure what the threshold is for this, but I suspect it may be years of junior experience (from what I remember if a guy is "overage" but still has years of eligibility, he can play in the AHL or juniors) This may be completely wrong though.

[Draft Dodger]

it's age for juniors / AHL. players drafted from the juniors either a) play in the NHL or b) junior hockey until they are 20 (and once they play 10 games in the NHL, they cannot go back to juniors). Once a player reaches 20, he can go the AHL.

or something.

[Draft Dodger]

(time for more wine - that's almost making sense)

[bhlloy]

Makes perfect sense... thanks

[Draft Dodger]

btw, speaking of the game, I did a fantasy draft today, and then when I advanced to the next day, all the rosters were the original rosters.

[Draft Dodger]

I also had the Brodeur bug, but that seems like it's already a known issue, as is the fucked up Avalanche affilations and retired jersey info.

[TroyF]

btw, speaking of the game, I did a fantasy draft today, and then when I advanced to the next day, all the rosters were the original rosters.


That happened to me once. I decided to start up another game and try again and it worked. I've sinse had five or six drafts and haven't had the problem recur.

[SackAttack]

So I bought the game and started a league with fictional names.

Devils are shopping around a 29 y/o defenseman with every rating in the red except for a 17 in 'determination.'

He's understandably not happy about that. :D

[Galaril]

Though I hate to do this I am coping someone else's post from another forum to see if others agree with this and too also, call attention to these issues for Riz.

My initial impressions are that the new 2d game engine is pretty good but the rest of the game feels very rough.

For a game that has an NHL license, the scant few pictures is very odd. I wonder if other NHL licensed games suffer from the lack of player photos? This is a big immersion killer.

The game also could use a better front end page. The GM page is ok, but an overall league front page ala OOTP2006 would have been a much better design. Riz should have a chat with Markus concerning this. I also don't like how there is no ability to view more than 1 NHL division at a time in the standings page.

The 2d engine could also use the following:

1. A pop up screen stating who scored and who assisted.
2. a pop up screen stating who received a penalty and what type of penalty it is.
3. Some sort of horn or siren when a goal is scored.

There are also a lot of icings and goalies tend to be a bit too passive when handling the puck which causes too many play stoppages.

On the plus side of things, the AI logic for powerplays is very nice and you will actually see teams form the box fairly often and pass the puck around the perimeter. The players scate and move realisticly and goals occur from good plays as well as mistakes by the other team. Watching games in the 2d screen is pretty fun if not time consuming. It will bring back memories of the old Wayne Gretzky Hockey game.

The game as it stands right now will probably need several patches and a major photo pack as well as some sort of roster editor since many of the player attributes look out of place.

Thats all for now.

[Mota]

So far I'm loving it. Although in the game view screen, I'd appreciate if the PBP line was closer to the rink, with all the stats seperating the two, you either have to pick one or the other to follow. If the PBP were right below the rink view, you might have a better chance of following both at the same time. As it stands, I don't even read the text at all because the view is much more captivating.

[Hurst2112]

you can use photos that are available for EHM 2005.

I think my file is several hundred megs. That would suck to download with the game.

[Joe Canadian]

So far I'm loving it. Although in the game view screen, I'd appreciate if the PBP line was closer to the rink, with all the stats seperating the two, you either have to pick one or the other to follow. If the PBP were right below the rink view, you might have a better chance of following both at the same time. As it stands, I don't even read the text at all because the view is much more captivating.

"... if someone happens on the 2D screen and you want to know who was involved, by the time you look down... that part of the PBP has disappeared, even when there is a wistle blown.

[Joe Canadian]

This business about the player pics, while a very minor problem, is very confusing to me. I've never seen a recent video game with a pro league licence come out where most players had blank pictures.

[Icy]

I have downloaded all the available picture packs from 2k5 and like 95% of the players have pictures now so it's not that big issue for me.

I agree about the pbp being hard to read as it's too low in the 2D screen.

One thing i have not seen mentioned but that bugs me is the waivers wire screen. I would like to see there all the different views as in the other screens with players (roster view or player search view) as right now i need to click on every player to see his ratings and it's hard to find a good player that way, too much time consuming.

I would like also the players names in the tactics lineups screen to be clickable and linked to the players info like in any othe rscreen.

Overall i'm enjoying the game a lot and have not seen any important bug.

[Marc Duffy]

This business about the player pics, while a very minor problem, is very confusing to me. I've never seen a recent video game with a pro league licence come out where most players had blank pictures.

Although we are licensed, this doesnt entitle us to get free player photos. you have to purchase them from Getty and it's very expensive. In the end, we decided the budget we had remaining was spent better elsewhere.

Apologies.

[Draft Dodger]

Although we are licensed, this doesnt entitle us to get free player photos. you have to purchase them from Getty and it's very expensive. In the end, we decided the budget we had remaining was spent better elsewhere.

Apologies.

that makes a lot more sense - but does that imply you had to just pick certain photos to put in the game?...because, if so, you guys chose poorly. :D

[Sweed]

Although we are licensed, this doesnt entitle us to get free player photos. you have to purchase them from Getty and it's very expensive. In the end, we decided the budget we had remaining was spent better elsewhere.

Apologies.

A license from both the league and players union doesn't get you pictures?
I did not know that. I would have thought either the league or the players owned the pictures and they came with the license, live and learn.

Like anything else in life they get you coming and going.:mad:


But a good decision on your part as a place to save money since it's easily "fixed" by the community.

[Draft Dodger]

and, I spend about 3 hours playing today. get through to my first exhibition game...and it crashes. I'm right back to day one. yay for me. :rolleyes:

[Honolulu_Blue]

As per usual, me thinks HB will be waiting for the first patch or two before investing his time and energies into the game. I've always done this in the past and have usually been quite pleased.

I do salute you brave, noble pioneers and trailblazers.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I do salute you brave, noble pioneers and trailblazers.

I swear I heard the "Real Men of Genius" jingle playing in the background while reading this.

[SackAttack]

Mr. Text Sim Early Adoooooooopter?

[SackAttack]

Okay, this is a gamebreaker if what I just saw is really happening.

I'm in a fantasy draft, and I had the #1 overall selection. Gravy.

Pick two rolls around, and Roberto Luongo appears to still be on the board. I take him, the game pops up with the usual dialog about "Take Joe Blow now?" Same thing with Jarome Iginla in the third round. Yeah, seemed odd that they were still on the board, but hey.

I notice on the "My Team" screen that only my #1 pick is actually on the team. I look at the 'drafted' screen, and the players in question went #10 and #12 in the first round - which is more in line with expectations - and the game not only didn't NOTICE this, as the players were still listed in the pool of available players, but it didn't prompt me with a notice that the players weren't actually available, nor did it warn me that I would, in essence, lose my 2nd and 3rd round picks because the players weren't actually available to draft.

I'm going to try again. If I see this happen again, I am going to be very upset.

[SackAttack]

Dola,

I auto-completed the draft so I could exit the game and try this again, and the 'my team' screen does in fact start with the first round, and then show no 2nd or 3rd round pick before picking up in the 4th round with auto-selections.

[Draft Dodger]

same thing happened to me. it's a known issue (has to do with the filters or something).

[SackAttack]

I wasn't USING the filters, though. That's the part that has me pissed, and why I'm trying again to make sure it wasn't just a one-off.

[Joe Canadian]

Although we are licensed, this doesnt entitle us to get free player photos. you have to purchase them from Getty and it's very expensive. In the end, we decided the budget we had remaining was spent better elsewhere.

Apologies.

No need to apologize, I just thought it was strange...

[SackAttack]

Looks like it was a one-off, as it didn't happen this time.

It's neat being able to get so many different opinions on a player in the draft, though. That's handy.

[TroyF]

Yeah, the draft is a bit off. It works sometimes, doesn't work sometimes. I've only had a couple of problems through a lot of drafts. Still debating on this, but I'll probably pass and spend the extra cash to get FM sent to me opening day instead of opt for this.

[Joe Canadian]

I just noticed for the first time re-entry waivers... Biron was the player, and the Penguins picked him up... and since it was the re-entry waivers they only have to cover half of his salary. Not sure if this is a new feature or not, but it's cool anyways.

[Joe Canadian]

How are player name's generated for "new" players, and by that I mean what determines if a player has a French of English name, for example.

I'm glancing through the QMJHL draft rankings, and pretty much all the players from Newfoundland (which is a QMJHL territory) are French, when I would guess 90% of Newfoundlanders have English names.

[Johnny93g]

As i am coming to the end of my first season, i have noticed something a little off. Here is a screenshot
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6681/dscoringvh0.jpg

Defense scoring is extremly low!!!
2 defensmen have over 10 goals, and both players scored more goals last season.
McCabe has about 30 fewer points, and Nik Lidstrom has about 50 fewer points.

I'm hoping this is an isolated issue, but if not, it needs to be looked at

[SackAttack]

Couple of things on this end.

1) It would probably be better to have the player names on the 'game view' screen listed under the goal they're defending for that period, rather than under the team name. The theory is, you'd recognize your own player names much more readily, and would be less likely to be confused about which color is which team.

2) Now *that's* chippy. 94 penalty minutes in a game in which 71 of them came in the first quarter? Somebody had to have called somebody else's mother a terrorist whore or something, that's insane.

[Cringer]

Just downloaded the game and installed. I think I may buy this, although just looking at it real quick I think I will be as lost as I was with FM (CM then) at first.

I think part of what has me hooked is being able to take over the Spokane Chiefs (former hometown team) or the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (current hometown team).

One thing though, why are their arena's not the real names? Rio Grande Valley plays in the Dodge Arena, is the sponsor's name the problem? Also, they do not play in McAllen technically. The arena is in Hidalgo, TX. Not a big deal, I was just wondering if there was a specific reason why the arena names aren't in there?

[Draft Dodger]

2) Now *that's* chippy. 94 penalty minutes in a game in which 71 of them came in the first quarter?

whoohoo everybody laugh at the noob!

[Draft Dodger]

One thing though, why are their arena's not the real names? Rio Grande Valley plays in the Dodge Arena, is the sponsor's name the problem? Also, they do not play in McAllen technically. The arena is in Hidalgo, TX. Not a big deal, I was just wondering if there was a specific reason why the arena names aren't in there?

licensing rights, I'd assume. I wish we could fix those names. In fact, I wish a lot of the dat files were user-editable.

[JeffR]

Yup, it's the arena sponsor names. League licenses don't cover them. There's also a little translation problem that forces the use of "ice hall", which is a strictly European term, as one of the replacement names, so that looks a little funny for North American teams.

[Ksyrup]

I had a very frustrating moment trying to learn the interface Friday night. I think I was in the Assign Scout screen at the time, and as usual, I started looking around at different areas of the game from there and all of a sudden found myself "trapped" - I could not get back to the main GM screen, most of the drop-down choices were greyed out, and I couldn't even exit the damn game. After 10-15 minutes of visiting pretty much every available screen in the game, I started clicking the arrows at the top and discovered that I had to go all the way back to the original Scout screen and hit "OK" or "Cancel" at the bottom left to be able to get back to the main GM screen and do anything else.

That was horribly frustrating and, without any guidance or explanation from within the game as to what I needed to do, seems like a poor design. At least a pop-up "Confirm all changes" or something like that would alert me that there was only one way to leave that screen. Without it, I just wandered aimlessly and helplessly trying to get back to the GM screen. But there were enough screens available that I didn't really know what was wrong until it was too late.

[MizzouRah]

I had a very frustrating moment trying to learn the interface Friday night. I think I was in the Assign Scout screen at the time, and as usual, I started looking around at different areas of the game from there and all of a sudden found myself "trapped" - I could not get back to the main GM screen, most of the drop-down choices were greyed out, and I couldn't even exit the damn game. After 10-15 minutes of visiting pretty much every available screen in the game, I started clicking the arrows at the top and discovered that I had to go all the way back to the original Scout screen and hit "OK" or "Cancel" at the bottom left to be able to get back to the main GM screen and do anything else.

That was horribly frustrating and, without any guidance or explanation from within the game as to what I needed to do, seems like a poor design. At least a pop-up "Confirm all changes" or something like that would alert me that there was only one way to leave that screen. Without it, I just wandered aimlessly and helplessly trying to get back to the GM screen. But there were enough screens available that I didn't really know what was wrong until it was too late.

I liked EHM 05, but pretty much sums up my thoughts on the interface in '05. I've been reading it's a bit better, but after reading this I'm glad I didn't give in this time around. It's just too confusing on where to go.. and ootp is sometimes like this as well, although not as bad. I know many love SI's interface, but I just seem to have problems navigating for some reason.

[SackAttack]

whoohoo everybody laugh at the noob!

Goddammit, I'm not a newb.

My fingers just get ahead of my brain far too often and the last week or so I haven't been catching it.

[Galaril]

I heard a patch might be coming out today.

[mooreadamc]

A patch was just released. Starting a game tonight :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm glad to see that there's a patch out already. Riz says on the SI forums that there were some changes to the 2D engine, so even though the changelist doesn't seem to note that, it's true.

I am looking forward to my Friday spending spree (EHM, NBA 2K7, and who knows what else?). :D

[Joe Canadian]

licensing rights, I'd assume. I wish we could fix those names. In fact, I wish a lot of the dat files were user-editable.

All this will be fixed when the unofficial unfaking update comes out...

[Draft Dodger]

good luck on downloading the patch. I think SI is using my grandmother's eMachine to host their website.

:)

[Joe Canadian]

A patch was just released. Starting a game tonight :)

Old saved games can be used with the new patch...

[Chief Rum]

All this will be fixed when the unofficial unfaking update comes out...

Any idea on how long it will be before that happens?

[Joe Canadian]

Any idea on how long it will be before that happens?

It usually takes a month, I think, since they need to make the editor first... then start with changing the data.

[Sweed]

good luck on downloading the patch. I think SI is using my grandmother's eMachine to host their website.

:)


I got it off the rapidshare link in less than 5 minutes. Now the official SI server was as slow as ever.

[FrogMan]

It usually takes a month, I think, since they need to make the editor first... then start with changing the data.

The sad thing with the unfaking patch and EHM, if it's the same with 2007 as it was with 2005, is that you have to start a new game for it to take effect...

This is sad as opposed to the "fake" files of FM that have an immediate effect in game, no need to restart...

FM

[Hurst2112]

The sad thing with the unfaking patch and EHM, if it's the same with 2007 as it was with 2005, is that you have to start a new game for it to take effect...

This is sad as opposed to the "fake" files of FM that have an immediate effect in game, no need to restart...

FM

perfect. I usually get fired from my first career around the time the unfake patch comes out. :D

[Galaril]

Well two things I have noticed. The 2d view has tons of passing by teams in front of there own nets and too many penalties. I had agame with 89 penalty minutes which is what evryone else is reporting. this is leading to too many injuries b/c of all the banging by defensemen on penalties. And after turning down aggression to minimal I saw these outrageous penalty minutes.

[SirFozzie]

the 89 minute penalty game, check to see if there were any (or several) game misconducts.. they're 20 minutes each

[Galaril]

the 89 minute penalty game, check to see if there were any (or several) game misconducts.. they're 20 minutes each

I am not sure about that but in any case does this happen often or at all in hockey? What is average for a NHL game?

[SirFozzie]

Game Misconducts happen.. well.. not regulaly, but they're not rare.

Things that cause a game misconduct

1) Third Man In rule on a fight
2) High Stick that causes bleeding
3) arguing with the ref

there's others..

[Draft Dodger]

the 89 minute penalty game, check to see if there were any (or several) game misconducts.. they're 20 minutes each

10 minutes, soccerboy :D

[SirFozzie]

Funny, I thought I saw a game misconduct and the penalty minutes thing went up by 20. I'll have to wait till it happens again

And as regards the Soccerboy comment.. Don't make me drive up there ;)

[Draft Dodger]

Funny, I thought I saw a game misconduct and the penalty minutes thing went up by 20. I'll have to wait till it happens again

And as regards the Soccerboy comment.. Don't make me drive up there ;)

there's lots of trees... :cool:

[SirFozzie]

there's lots of trees... :cool:

*sighs and shakes my head*

Was actually up in NH late last fall, checking out a classic arcade up there :)

[Qwikshot]

How do you offer players to gauge interest?

[Draft Dodger]

How do you offer players to gauge interest?

-approach a random team to trade (quickest way is the trade icon on your GM screen).
-add your player to the trade
-choose the "offer to all" option on the lower left. you'll get emails immediately.

unfortunately, at least in my experiences, all the offers will be complete crap. Teams will just offer combinations of players they don't want anyway. And you have to go in and respond to each one to turn the trade down before you can advance to the next day. It ends up being more work than it's worth. It probably would just be easier to get a list of teams that might be interested, and how interested they may be and then let you build offers from there.

Trading is tough. In 2k5 it was too easy, but that's been tightened up considerably. Maybe too tight, but I'd rather have it too hard than too easy to trade.

[Draft Dodger]

a few thoughts...

-the new 2D game interface is really nice...but I really don't like that the results bar is at the very bottom of the screen. Makes it really hard to follow. Also, the text has a tendancy to fly by so quickly, you miss who did what (goals, penalties) and have to jump to the boxscore.

-why on earth is the waiver wire hidden in the world menu?

-what happend to the "see also" options, which allowed you to jump easily to your farm team? am I just missing them?

-stats. I didn't understand this in 2k5, and I don't understand it in 2k7. Each player has a vast number of stats available in their history. And yet, very few of those are available on the statistics menu. Why keep all these awesome stats and then bury them so that they are barely useful? That this wasn't improved is a huge disappointment to me.

-the customizable GM screen: it took me a while to get used to this...but it's simply genius. I love it.

[Draft Dodger]

oh wait, one more...

I would LOVE to see an x-factor option a la FOF that would allow the ratings to fluctuate subtly each time you start a new game. Maybe not as severe as FOF's, but it would still be great. Might also simmer down all the eggheads bitching about the ratings of their favorite players. ok, that won't happen. but still.

[klayman]

-what happend to the "see also" options, which allowed you to jump easily to your farm team? am I just missing them?



It is only available on the team roster screen. Three small arrows on the top left corner by the team name. Left and right cycle through the teams in your league, while the down arrow brings up a drop down menu like last year.

[Sweed]

a few thoughts...

-the new 2D game interface is really nice...but I really don't like that the results bar is at the very bottom of the screen. Makes it really hard to follow. Also, the text has a tendancy to fly by so quickly, you miss who did what (goals, penalties) and have to jump to the boxscore.

Agreed, really needs to be just below the ice. It was brought up at the end of a thread at SI today where Graeme was talking about possible changes. Last I checked Graeme hadn't been back to respond.

-why on earth is the waiver wire hidden in the world menu?

There's also a waiver link on the left side of your front office screen. IIRC near the bottom.

-what happend to the "see also" options, which allowed you to jump easily to your farm team? am I just missing them?

On the top of your roster screen, in the title bar, are three very small tick buttons (left, right, and down). Hard to see since they are the same color as the banner.

[SackAttack]

the 89 minute penalty game, check to see if there were any (or several) game misconducts.. they're 20 minutes each

Foz, two things:

1) 96 minutes, not 89. :) I forgot that it wasn't a 47-47 split, but 49-47. So officially, 96 penalty minutes.

2) I know already that Donald Brashear got thrown out of the game and the Panthers assessed a 10 minute misconduct penalty (I think he actually started three fights in that wild first period). He was the only one hit with a misconduct. The rest were all five-minutes for fighting, double-minors for high sticking and the like, and regular two-minute minors.

Brashear ended up with 32 of the game's 96 penalty minutes. Dude had a chip on his shoulder, for sure.

Brashear actually got suspended for 9 games, and I'd already been trying to get rid of him for sucking in camp, so that was a quick ticket for him to the AHL. :)

I do remember setting one player to be encouraged to fight (since the game said doing that would minimize other guys getting in trouble). I wonder if it might have been Brashear. Either 'encourage' is too encouraging, or the dude just snapped from that stick he took to the head several years ago.

[King of New York]

Okay, there is something seriously wrong with the penalty minutes in this game right now.

I just finished up a QJMHL game between me (St. John's Fog Devils) and Moncton. My team, which is basically the team I inherited (I did not go out and add goons), has aggressiveness set to normal, my head coach has a discipline rating of 12.

Power plays: Moncton: 2/30 St. John's 0/1
Penalty minutes: St. John's: 78 Moncton:4

That's right, a team had 30 separate power play opportunities in a single game. This game was extreme. but not quite a fluke; in most every game. teams are routinely getting double-digit power play opportunities.

A few more games like this one, and 2007 is going on the shelf for a long time.

[Galaril]

Okay, there is something seriously wrong with the penalty minutes in this game right now.

I just finished up a QJMHL game between me (St. John's Fog Devils) and Moncton. My team, which is basically the team I inherited (I did not go out and add goons), has aggressiveness set to normal, my head coach has a discipline rating of 12.

Power plays: Moncton: 2/30 St. John's 0/1
Penalty minutes: St. John's: 78 Moncton:4

That's right, a team had 30 separate power play opportunities in a single game. This game was extreme. but not quite a fluke; in most every game. teams are routinely getting double-digit power play opportunities.

A few more games like this one, and 2007 is going on the shelf for a long time.

Damn, not good, not good at all.

[Joe Canadian]

Okay, there is something seriously wrong with the penalty minutes in this game right now.

I just finished up a QJMHL game between me (St. John's Fog Devils) and Moncton. My team, which is basically the team I inherited (I did not go out and add goons), has aggressiveness set to normal, my head coach has a discipline rating of 12.

Power plays: Moncton: 2/30 St. John's 0/1
Penalty minutes: St. John's: 78 Moncton:4

That's right, a team had 30 separate power play opportunities in a single game. This game was extreme. but not quite a fluke; in most every game. teams are routinely getting double-digit power play opportunities.

A few more games like this one, and 2007 is going on the shelf for a long time.

FWIW, in real life when I head down to Mile One to watch a game it seems like the team is more interested in being tough then it is with scoring goals, at least that's what it was like last season. :)

[scooter]

I'm not sure what's wrong with the penalty minutes, but I do know that IRL penalty minutes and power play opportunities are way up in the WHL. I follow the Everett Silvertips pretty closely and they have been having a bear of a time with the new crackdown on clutching and grabbing (the same thing that the NHLers were having problems with last year). To back it up with some numbers, here are their first two games of the season:

Game 1: Everett 20 pen min (10 times shorthanded), Chilliwack 20 pen min (10 times shorthanded)

Game 2: Everett 26 pen min (13 times shorthanded), Kamloops 18 pen min (9 times shorthanded)

While I realize that that doesn't quite compare to what you are seeing in your game, the fact is that penalty minutes are up (in major juniors anyway). So keep that in mind as you try to decide how out-of-whack the game is.

P.S. - As I keep looking at the WHL page, Spokane played Kootenay on Sat: Spokane was 3/13 on the power play and Kootenay was 3/16!

[Draft Dodger]

there's talk on the SI forums that the new patch introduces a new bug that substantially increases the injury rate. I think I'll hold off for now.

[Honolulu_Blue]

there's talk on the SI forums that the new patch introduces a new bug that substantially increases the injury rate. I think I'll hold off for now.

Are they calling this the "Peter Forsberg Bug"?

[Fouts]

I'm not understanding the way points are calculated in the standings. After 32 games, my CHL team has 14 W, 8 L, 7 O/SW, 3 O/SL, but the total shows 30 points. I thought it was 2 points per win, 2 points per O/SW, and 1 point per O/SL, which would be 45 points. Am I missing something?

[King of New York]

I'm not sure what's wrong with the penalty minutes, but I do know that IRL penalty minutes and power play opportunities are way up in the WHL. I follow the Everett Silvertips pretty closely and they have been having a bear of a time with the new crackdown on clutching and grabbing (the same thing that the NHLers were having problems with last year). To back it up with some numbers, here are their first two games of the season:

Game 1: Everett 20 pen min (10 times shorthanded), Chilliwack 20 pen min (10 times shorthanded)

Game 2: Everett 26 pen min (13 times shorthanded), Kamloops 18 pen min (9 times shorthanded)

While I realize that that doesn't quite compare to what you are seeing in your game, the fact is that penalty minutes are up (in major juniors anyway). So keep that in mind as you try to decide how out-of-whack the game is.

P.S. - As I keep looking at the WHL page, Spokane played Kootenay on Sat: Spokane was 3/13 on the power play and Kootenay was 3/16!

Yeah, I guess that the double-digit power-play opportunities are basically in line with what is happening in the CHL--but I'm still ticked off about the opposition getting 30 power play opportunities in single game :p

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

I'm not understanding the way points are calculated in the standings. After 32 games, my CHL team has 14 W, 8 L, 7 O/SW, 3 O/SL, but the total shows 30 points. I thought it was 2 points per win, 2 points per O/SW, and 1 point per O/SL, which would be 45 points. Am I missing something?

This is a known bug in the CHL and has been fixed for the next patch.

Also, the PIM issue and a injury problem are also being fixed or have been fixed....I hope this patch is put out soon as these are the only game killers
I see from making this my replacement for FM06.

[Marc Vaughan]

oh wait, one more...

I would LOVE to see an x-factor option a la FOF that would allow the ratings to fluctuate subtly each time you start a new game. Maybe not as severe as FOF's, but it would still be great. Might also simmer down all the eggheads bitching about the ratings of their favorite players. ok, that won't happen. but still.

This exists in EHM & FM to a certain extent but only for players marked as unknown ability/potential - these are randomised (or in the case of potential can be set to a random number between certain values)

[Draft Dodger]

This exists in EHM & FM to a certain extent but only for players marked as unknown ability/potential - these are randomised (or in the case of potential can be set to a random number between certain values)

interesting. I've never noticed it - it always seems the same guys perform the same each time you start a new career.

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

Updated Patch out addressing the injury and penalty issue over at SI site.

[King of New York]

Updated Patch out addressing the injury and penalty issue over at SI site.

Now that's what I like: I raise an issue, and within 24 hours I get a patch! Excellent news!

[Galaril]

Wow. SI is really working to mend past ills from the OOTP disaster. Very impressive and looks like I will be making a purchase for this one.

[King of New York]

Yeah, while the game engine needs a bit more polishing, I would recommed this for purchase. The improvements made to tactics, scouting, and trading are very impressive.

[Hurst2112]

WTF is this???

New minor update available

We've detected that a newer build is available from the Sports Interactive website.

However, we are unable to find the download in our database currently. Please try later!

Is there a 2nd update that is out there?

[Galaril]

SI needs to get a good book on system development methodology and read the chapter related to version control. They always seem to screw this up and it is overly confusing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

A league with points figured wrong & a PM/penalty bug. While I applaud the (apparent) quick patch to repair these problems, am I the only person wondering how the heck the game got out to the public with those things unnoticed / unresolved in the first place?

[Hurst2112]

A league with points figured wrong & a PM/penalty bug. While I applaud the (apparent) quick patch to repair these problems, am I the only person wondering how the heck the game got out to the public with those things unnoticed / unresolved in the first place?

you never bought FPS Football Pro 99 did you. ;)

It's just frustrating that I can't get the 2nd patch, update or revision...whatever they WANT to call it.

[jbmagic]

A league with points figured wrong & a PM/penalty bug. While I applaud the (apparent) quick patch to repair these problems, am I the only person wondering how the heck the game got out to the public with those things unnoticed / unresolved in the first place?


See OOTP 2006

[JonInMiddleGA]

you never bought FPS Football Pro 99 did you.

Sadly enough, yes I did.

But, given how that turned out, you'd think that companies would learn a lesson from it.

[Hurst2112]

im not about to throw the SI guys under the bus. They have proven themselves with the FM/EHM titles IMO.

I just don't get the obscure mini-fixes with this release.

[scooter]

It's just frustrating that I can't get the 2nd patch, update or revision...whatever they WANT to call it.

You can. Just go to the SI forums. The first sticky thread (in the NHLEHM forum) is something like "Version 3.0.1 out now *Updated Sept 26*". Scroll down the thread to posts from Marc on today's date. There is one with the link for the update. It just a "manual" update instead of your auto-update within the game.

[Hurst2112]

so its the same version number? 3.0.1?

when i download it, the number is the same as well. 458 or whatever.

[Galaril]

so its the same version number? 3.0.1?

when i download it, the number is the same as well. 458 or whatever.


Yeah, it is the same exe not anything updated from that link.

[laser]

Does the patch also work for the demo?

[Draft Dodger]

there have been two patches, the 2nd to fix some stuff in the first. but I was extremely confused about what version is what, so I'm just holding off until they make it a bit clearer.

[scooter]

Actually the link I told you about above is a different patch. It changes the version number of the .exe file. On you computer, find the NHLEHM .exe file, right click on it and go to the Version tab. At the top it will say "File Version:". Does yours say 3.0.1.5242? (I'm not sure what the old one was, something like 3.0.1.5020)

The file that they have has the same name, but it IS a different file.

[Sweed]

there have been two patches, the 2nd to fix some stuff in the first. but I was extremely confused about what version is what, so I'm just holding off until they make it a bit clearer.

Marc posted that the check for updates from ingame should now work. The direct links are also posted in the thread at SI in the first post.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6461934525/m/8352065752?r=8572029752#8572029752

I updated yesterday using the rapidshare link and it did work though there was some confusion since there was an error, I believe, in the check for update routine ( due to patch numbering?, not sure on this).

Result of updating...

game before updating 30 penalties 64 minutes in the box.

two games after..

11 penalties \ 30 minutes
13 penaltiesn \ 40 minutes

[Oilers9911]

A league with points figured wrong & a PM/penalty bug. While I applaud the (apparent) quick patch to repair these problems, am I the only person wondering how the heck the game got out to the public with those things unnoticed / unresolved in the first place?

I always wonder how SO MANY games get out into the public with so many unresolved problems.

[Marc Vaughan]

I always wonder how SO MANY games get out into the public with so many unresolved problems.
Simply put we do our utmost to ensure the game are as bug free and flawless as possible - we use standard software engineering techniques, very organised testing etc. .... but simply put with over a million lines of code in most of our titles its virtually impossible for them to be 100% tested and perfect upon release.

For an example of this consider FM - it has 50 odd leagues in it, consider the number of permutations you can have upon starting the game and selecting the leagues:

50x49x48x47x46x45.....

We don't even have enough time to START the game in every possible permutation let alone test their individual vagrancies, we do the best we can and use sensible techniques to try and ensure sanity but sometimes unfortunately its not enough.

I realise this isn't what you'd prefer to hear but its honest and imho thats the main thing.

As always we'll do our utmost to support EHM and I hope you all enjoy the game.

[Draft Dodger]

very worth pointing out that SI has released two patches within 5 days of the release of the game (and they are still working on more). say what you want about a game coming out that has some issues, but I, for one, am appreciative of the quick attempt to fix stuff.

[Joe Canadian]

very worth pointing out that SI has released two patches within 5 days of the release of the game (and they are still working on more). say what you want about a game coming out that has some issues, but I, for one, am appreciative of the quick attempt to fix stuff.

"

[Hurst2112]

"
first line of post #206

[Fouts]

Any news on them fixing the points in the CHL standings? It bugs me everytime I play now, and its getting close to the playoffs.

[Galaril]

I thought I would mention that the tips that go by very, very quickly at start are quite useful to picking up the nuances of the game. I actually went to the EHM game folder and opened the hints folder in microsoft word and saved it to so I can read them more easily at my own pace.They actually make an 8-9 page word doc with no spacing, so actually like 15 pages normal document style.

[JonInMiddleGA]

very worth pointing out that SI has released two patches within 5 days of the release of the game (and they are still working on more). say what you want about a game coming out that has some issues, but I, for one, am appreciative of the quick attempt to fix stuff.

I see what you're saying, but I think the need for two patches within five days of release speaks louder. {shrug} YMMV.

[JonInMiddleGA]

For an example of this consider FM - it has 50 odd leagues in it, consider the number of permutations you can have upon starting the game and selecting the leagues:

50x49x48x47x46x45.....

Which makes a certain amount of sense, but unless you're saying that the points bug with a particular league is related to configuration instead of a setting for that specific league (i.e. does it happen with that league no matter what others are active or does it only occur if a certain combination of leagues is active), I'm not sure how that fairly applies to this.

If you're going to include 50 leagues, then it just seems to me that at a bare minimum somebody somewhere should actually fire up a game or two with that league included & actually look at the output. That just seems like a logical part of the beta process. And further, I would suggest that if you can't find testers willing to do even that bare minimum of examination of a league then perhaps that league shouldn't be included at all, better to do fewer things well than more things poorly.

To be clear, I'm by no means I singling out EHM or SI, you just happen to be the latest example of what I consider an increasingly poor performance by the industry as a whole.

[Marc Vaughan]

If you're going to include 50 leagues, then it just seems to me that at a bare minimum somebody somewhere should actually fire up a game or two with that league included & actually look at the output. That just seems like a logical part of the beta process. And further, I would suggest that if you can't find testers willing to do even that bare minimum of examination of a league then perhaps that league shouldn't be included at all, better to do fewer things well than more things poorly.

We test all the leagues in all of our products - indeed having at least a couple of dedicated testers for each in the vast majority of cases (normally the researcher for the territory involved).

The reason I quote those permutations as an example is simply to give people a rough understanding of why testing games of this size is always going to be something which can't be 'fully stress tested' (for another example - we've over 250,000 players in the FM database to be 100% certain the transfer system is flawless we'd have to test each of these in every concievable transfer situation possible in case vagrancies in their data cause problems).

[Fidatelo]

To be clear, I'm by no means I singling out EHM or SI, you just happen to be the latest example of what I consider an increasingly poor performance by the industry as a whole.

While this is true, you have to keep in mind that the complexity of most software being developed today is much, much, much greater than most of the software released 10 years ago.

People expect to pay the same price, year after year, for games that are increasingly complex. Yet they are confused as to why games are released with more and more bugs.

[bhlloy]

Apparently another game killing bug in the last release... too many unassisted goals is completely skewing the points totals. Hopefully a fix for this isn't too far off.

[sachmo71]

To be clear, I'm by no means I singling out EHM or SI, you just happen to be the latest example of what I consider an increasingly poor performance by the industry as a whole.

And they still have no reason to change their tactics. Dates are king, baby.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I see what you're saying, but I think the need for two patches within five days of release speaks louder. {shrug} YMMV.

I believe I ought to clarify something, because upon further review I didn't phrase my criticism nearly as well as I should have.

Two patches in five days isn't what I find troublesome. Two issues that needed patching in the first few days of release is what I'm blasting, NOT that they issued multiple patches.

Some developers have taken shots for doing multiple small patches but I don't have an issue with how this is being patched, only that there was such a need right out of the box. Small point to most I'm sure, but it bothered me that I appear to have blasted at something that I didn't intend to.

[Galaril]

Apparently another game killing bug in the last release... too many unassisted goals is completely skewing the points totals. Hopefully a fix for this isn't too far off.

WTF!

[jbmagic]

SI has been rushing there games out too fast. The games are not ready for release.

First OOTP 2006 and now EHM.

[Johnny93g]

SI has been rushing there games out too fast. The games are not ready for release.

First OOTP 2006 and now EHM.

your nuts.

This EHM game is great. Im having a great time playing it. A season in, and i couldnt be happier. The only thing ive been concerned about, lack of defense scoring has corrected itself in my 2nd season. So ya, i dont know about ootp, but ehm is a good game, without many problems. I completly disagree with you

[twothree]

SI has been rushing there games out too fast. The games are not ready for release.

First OOTP 2006 and now EHM.

[thread jack alert]

IMHO, it is not just one company. The computer game software industry has been in the release now, patch later mentality for quite some time. I switched to mostly console games almost 5 years ago because of this. And have really only just got back into computer games in the past year or so.

IMHO, the more suits and bean counters you have in a company, the buggier the initial release will be. Money isn't coming in while some programmer is holding up the company from releasing their next game, while he tries to fix a few bugs. At least, for now, most game companys still provide us with patches after release.

[\thread jack alert]

[King of New York]

your nuts.

This EHM game is great. Im having a great time playing it. A season in, and i couldnt be happier. The only thing ive been concerned about, lack of defense scoring has corrected itself in my 2nd season. So ya, i dont know about ootp, but ehm is a good game, without many problems. I completly disagree with you

SI has been rushing there games out too fast. The games are not ready for release.

First OOTP 2006 and now EHM.

I think the answer is in between the two extremes. EHM 2007 certainly has some issues that are making the game less enjoyable than it should be right now. On the other hand, the second patch seems to have done a good job with the penalty issue, and posters on the SI boards have already spotted a number of reasons why players are not getting credited with assists as they should. I expect that the assist problem will get fixed fairly quickly.

I'd say that, based on what I know right now, EHM 2007 has the potential for greatness, and might not be that far from greatness.

I am a bit concerned, though, about what might turn up once folks start getting five or ten seasons deep into their careers. Right now, we are just seeing what players have been able to discover in a season or two.

[JeffR]

I'm not quite sure why, but people seem to have lost sight of the fact that this is the very first iteration of the 2D engine, the heart of the whole simulation. That's not to say it's a clumsy first try, just that there's inevitably going to be a lot of room for refinement in it. I've spent enough time talking to Riz and watching him progress with the engine over the last year to be confident the underlying fundamentals are utterly sound. Look at the leap forward the FM 2D engine took between the first and second versions in 2005 and 2006, and you can get an idea of the potential of EHM's. But that's not going to happen overnight, and not without constructive criticism. It'd be a mistake, though, to look at that process as being some kind of sign that SI fell down on the job with respect to quality.

As for the rest of the game, the bug reports really aren't noticeably more numerous or more severe than they were for the first two versions. Regardless, I'll take some of the blame for whatever quantity there are; my participation in the testing process was minimal compared to the earlier versions (a very difficult summer for me personally left me little time to do much beyond working on the database.) Some of the nitpicky 'hockey' issues (as opposed to the 'game' ones) that I would've normally spotted and harassed Riz, Graeme, and Phil about probably made it through because of that. On the upside, those are usually the types of coding things that the guys are good at correcting quickly and efficiently.

In short, if you have faith in SI's commitment to putting out a good game and then supporting it properly, there's no reason for it to be shaken. This is still the same group of guys who kept working on EHM 2005 for the better part of a year after its release (to the point of exasperating some of the research team, who wanted to get moving on 2007.) No, they're not EA, and the limited resources and dependence on volunteers will show up in the product occasionally. But "not EA" has its positive aspects, too, and responding quickly and attentively to the opinions of the paying customers is one of them.

[Draft Dodger]

Two patches in five days isn't what I find troublesome. Two issues that needed patching in the first few days of release is what I'm blasting, NOT that they issued multiple patches.

I understand what you are saying. Personally, other than the half-assed player photo thing, I'm very happy with the game in it's released state.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I aint worried. I've played the first two EHMs into the ground. I'm a patient man. I understand the process and I'm happy to sit back and wait for it to run it's course. Is the process ideal? No. But it works well enough, warts and all.

[Draft Dodger]

meanwhile, Roberto Luongo just demanded a trade in Vancouver. I inquired, and they requested a midling prospect and 3 4th round draft picks. Jose Theodore, welcome to the trade block.

[Honolulu_Blue]

meanwhile, Roberto Luongo just demanded a trade in Vancouver. I inquired, and they requested a midling prospect and 3 4th round draft picks. Jose Theodore, welcome to the trade block.

Wow. Any reason for that? Are they just trying to dump salary?

[Joe Canadian]

meanwhile, Roberto Luongo just demanded a trade in Vancouver. I inquired, and they requested a midling prospect and 3 4th round draft picks. Jose Theodore, welcome to the trade block.

This 3 4th round pick buisness is really starting to annoy me... the computer is asking for and offering the same many times when a star player is involved. In real life, even if this was a salary dump, a bunch of 4th round picks and a prospect would not be enough to get a Sundin, Luongo, or McCabe.

[Marc Duffy]

SI has been rushing there games out too fast. The games are not ready for release.

First OOTP 2006 and now EHM.
Have you played EHM or are you reposting other comments?

[Marc Duffy]

I understand what you are saying. Personally, other than the half-assed player photo thing, I'm very happy with the game in it's released state.
It was a tough call but we felt the money being asked wasn't a good investment. I wouldn't so much call it half arsed, more a side effect of the licensing issues we face year on year.

[Draft Dodger]

This 3 4th round pick buisness is really starting to annoy me... the computer is asking for and offering the same many times when a star player is involved. In real life, even if this was a salary dump, a bunch of 4th round picks and a prospect would not be enough to get a Sundin, Luongo, or McCabe.

heck, in one of my 05 seasons, Sundin was waived. I claimed him, couldn't afford him, waived him to send to the AHL, where he cleared and sat for a couple weeks while I was able to clear cap room.

Luongo apparently requested the trade, which is new to me. I don't believe there was any formal news announcing it. I just happened to stumble across that when checking out Van. So I put in a request (I offered Theodore straight up), and they countered with the picks.

Beyond that, I agree with Joe. The trading still needs work. It's the same guys being offered every time. and usually, if you wait long enough, the team gives up and waives them. I can sort of accept the GMs trying to move their unwanted guys (heck, I sure have been), but it gets repititious. also, if they counter my offer, it's always the same players they are looking for in return (including the Luongo deal above).

It also is driving me crazy to find teams wanting my players, and then when I approach them for a trade, they aren't interested in him at all.

It's a bit better than 2k5 (which isn't saying all that much), but still doesn't seem quite "right".

[jbmagic]

Have you played EHM or are you reposting other comments?

yes and yes

But if you want to ignore what others said on my expense thats fine.

It doesn't excuse SI for rushing out there last 2 products ootp 2006 and Ehm with this many bugs.

I am sure SI team will fix it in time. Its just frustrated to see the intial release this buggy on the last two products SI put out.

[Pumpy Tudors]

yes and yes
This cracks me up.

[sachmo71]

Have you played EHM or are you reposting other comments?

oh snap!

[Draft Dodger]

This cracks me up.

everything cracks you up

[SirFozzie]

oh snap!


I can jsut see you saying that just like the german engineer from the VW "Unpimp my Auto" commercials.

It makes me laugh.

[Ajaxab]

Did the Duffy-jbotmagic exchange make me laugh or am I reposting other comments?

yes and yes

[Pumpy Tudors]

everything cracks you up
You crack me up. Meet me at the gas station. I've got something to show you.

[Hurst2112]

Devils won the cup my first year.

News said that it was their 3rd cup. It should be 4.

[Draft Dodger]

You crack me up. Meet me at the gas station. I've got something to show you.

regular or unleaded?