FHM (Franchise Hockey Manager)

[MizzouRah]

If this has already been posted, please delete mods.


First, I'd like to thank everyone for their continuing interest in FHM, and particularly those of you who've made an effort to spread the word about our game. Naturally, there's been a lot of discussion and speculation lately about the release date.

After careful consideration of the current state of the game, the resources we have available, and the demands of OOTP's release schedule, we've decided that the first version of Franchise Hockey Manager will not be released until September 3. While we're happy with the way the game is shaping up, it's clear that pushing a 1.0 version out the door now, before it's ready, would be a disservice to our customers and could do a lot of long-term harm to what we think is going to be a great game. So we're going to take the time to do it right. And yes, that is a firm date this time - not "sometime in September," not "during the third quarter." Tuesday, September 3, 2013.

However, if you're really anxious to play, you won't have to wait that long to get your hands on the game. Since we realize that many people have been patiently waiting for a long time and were expecting a release this winter, we're going to begin accepting pre-orders much earlier than we normally would - March 4, to be precise. And anyone pre-ordering will get access to the Beta version of the game at that time. The pre-order price will be $29.99, $10 off the full price of $39.99. For that, you'll get the release version of the game in September, as well as all the Beta versions between March and the release.

Now, just to be very clear about what kind of a game you'll be getting in March if you choose to pre-order, I emphasize the word Beta. There will be bugs. There will be missing features. The database will not be as polished as it will be in September, and may be missing some playable leagues at the start. Your saved games will become obsolete as newer versions of the Beta are released. In short, all the annoying things you'd normally expect to see in a pre-release game.

Over the next month, we'll be announcing a detailed list of exactly what will and won't be in the Beta. We don't want anyone spending their money without having a good understanding of what to expect.

But the Beta version will be as playable and feature-heavy as we can make it, and we're going to spend the next month making sure of that. To that end, I've recently accepted a full-time position with Out of the Park Developments, and will be working as FHM's Producer, That brings our full-time FHM staff to three and allows Sebastian and Malte to spend more time coding and less dealing with all the other demands of a getting a game ready for release. We'll also be adding a few more researchers to our database team.

So, on behalf of the FHM team, I thank you for your continued patience, and ask for just a little more of it. We want this game to be one you'll play for many years to come.

Jeff Riddolls
Producer, Franchise Hockey Manager

[MizzouRah]

Looks promising!


And, finally, a few new screenshots:

Lineup Screen (positions and icetime distribution):
http://misc.ootpdevelopments.com/fhm/lines.PNG

In-game Player Editing Screen (only usable while playing in commissioner mode):
http://misc.ootpdevelopments.com/fhm/edit.PNG

The Skater Register (here displaying a selection of retired players):
http://misc.ootpdevelopments.com/fhm/register.PNG

[tucker rocky]

Interesting, will have to check it out later.

[bhlloy]

Looks interesting, although at a first glance some of those rating categories seem a bit arbitrary

[General Mike]

It looks interesting. I will probably do the preorder/ beta for it.

[MizzouRah]

Couple more..

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb43/archibalduk/Franchise%20Hockey%20Manager%202013/player_profile_zps479afea6.png
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/409519_583131378379215_254408020_n.png

[sovereignstar v2]

No links? I've never heard of this. Is Jeff Riddolls 'JeffR' on this board?

[sovereignstar v2]

Okay, I just figured out this is an OOTPD thing lol.

[MizzouRah]

No links? I've never heard of this. Is Jeff Riddolls 'JeffR' on this board?

Head over to the OOTP forums, he is developing it through OOTPDevelopments.

Forum is towards the bottom.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Looks awesome.

I miss having a hockey management sim.

I'm in!

[vex]

Wake me up in September ;)

[Danny]

Any relation to Julio?

[Fidatelo]

Looks sweet! Can't wait!

[Young Drachma]

Yeah I'm down for the cause for sure. Warts and all.

[jbergey22]

Love it!

[SackAttack]

I'm cautiously optimistic. I think they're doing the right thing by deferring the full release until the fall, the price is right, and lord knows the market needs a quality hockey sim.

I'll be giving FHM a shot.

[Izulde]

The interface alone has me not interested. I'll stick to occasional EHM freeware forays.

[Peregrine]

It's understandable to me that they would keep most of the interface elements from OOTP - given the small number of staff and it's the first time they are really going away from their core product. I figure as long as the playability is there and the game is good, they can always change parts of the interface in future releases.

[GoldenEagle]

I am surprised that they set a pretty firm date like that. I wonder what kind of tech this is being developed with.

[MizzouRah]

The interface alone has me not interested. I'll stick to occasional EHM freeware forays.

To each his own, I'm very happy it's similar to the OOTP interface.

[MJ4H]

2d real time game display? If yes, very interested, if not, no chance.

[chrisj]

2d real time game display? If yes, very interested, if not, no chance.

They have said not in the first version.

[Ryan S]

Multiplayer is the most important thing to me. If this game makes hockey multiplayer leagues as easy as OOTP, that is a very good thing.

[claphamsa]

Multiplayer is the most important thing to me. If this game makes hockey multiplayer leagues as easy as OOTP, that is a very good thing.

+1 no interest until its multi :)

[Grim.Reaper]

This is a no brainer first day purchase. I love the option we get in buying early and having a chance to participate in the beta before its official release. I wish more games offered this option.

[Critch]

March 4th certainly sneaked up quickly. Looking at the FHM website it seems the date hasnt slipped, tomorrow is still the day for pre-orders and access to the beta.

[TLK]

New Screen Shots (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/fhm-general-discussions/228666-last-pre-beta-screenshots.html)

Looks good

[Logan]

I haven't bought a sim game in forever. Seems like a good time to get back in.

[TLK]

Franchise Hockey Manager
The Franchise Hockey Manager pre-order is now available! Drop the puck and let's play some hockey!

hxxp://store.eSellerate.net/s.aspx?s=STR4806181750

edit: Download apparently isn't ready yet. It will be available sometime tonight.

[Ryan S]

Or not.

Pre-order link was posted by mistake, so the game is still a few hours from release.

[Ryan S]

I think they need to bring their official twitter account in house. This is not the first time that someone has posted inaccurate information on their twitter account, and when it keeps happening it looks unprofessional.

Maybe they could have the guy who currently maintains it dealing with regular followers, and someone from the development team can post official announcements.

[BYU 14]

Released now, definitely has me interested, even in beta form. Waiting to hear some feedback, if it as least stable and not crashing I will dive in and participate in the beta.

[Logan]

I should have realized that the beta would not be for the Mac version, stupid me.

[BYU 14]

Dola - Jumped the gun, you can buy it but not uploaded yet.

[chadritt]

I should have realized that the beta would not be for the Mac version, stupid me.

Seriously? Well that changes my plans for the night.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Yeah, Brad had a nervous finger. :)

But we are running the final test and will make the game available for download any minute now (I will let you know).

Mac Version: Once I have iOOTP out to Apple (mid March) I will sit down and get the Mac version done. I know, it's a bit frustrating but I just have no time right now. On a bright side: the first Mac version will be in much better shape. :)

[chadritt]

Mac Version: Once I have iOOTP out to Apple (mid March) I will sit down and get the Mac version done. I know, it's a bit frustrating but I just have no time right now. On a bright side: the first Mac version will be in much better shape. :)

In all seriousness Im just glad one will exist. OOTP is the only text sim I've played in years and I couldn't get into that just because i much prefer football and hockey

[MizzouRah]

It's out.. I haven't purchased due to time constraints, but for those FOFC'ers who have, lets hear some impressions!

[BYU 14]

Just setting up now, though may not play until later.

here is the link

Index of /fhm (http://www.ootpdevfiles.com/fhm/)

[Sebastian Palkowski]

They found it on our FTP server (it seems people are really waiting for a new Hockey Manager game :)).

Here is the official post:

FHM Pre-Order and Open Beta (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/fhm-general-discussions/228685-preordering-now-available-beta-live.html)

I just want to make clear: it is the initial open beta release, please look at this thread to learn what you can expect:

What to expect (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/3452290-post1.html)

The game is scheduled for a September 3rd release and of course you get all updates up until then and after release for free.

[duff88]

Hey Sebastian,

Great news to see this is ready for open beta!

Unfortunately, when I put in my license number the game tells me it couldn't activate and to try again in a few minutes. Any idea what is the issue?

Thanks!

EDIT : Alright, fixed thanks to a user on OOTPDevelopments board. The issue was copy/pasting straight from the confirmation email, which added a space somewhere. Copy/pasted through notepad and can now play!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Hey Sebastian,

Great news to see this is ready for open beta!

Unfortunately, when I put in my license number the game tells me it couldn't activate and to try again in a few minutes. Any idea what is the issue?

Thanks!

EDIT : Alright, fixed thanks to a user on OOTPDevelopments board. The issue was copy/pasting straight from the confirmation email, which added a space somewhere. Copy/pasted through notepad and can now play!

Great! At the moment I try to keep up with all the questions we get. :)

[TLK]

When doing a historical season, I'm only seeing three or four players per team. What did I do wrong?

[cougarfreak]

Since I just bought a mac, I feel like this is going to be a must purchase for me. For me, it'll be OOTP, FM, and FHM for my gaming.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

When doing a historical season, I'm only seeing three or four players per team. What did I do wrong?

I gues you started a later year (post-1980)? We have to hand-edit all years from zero (not like OOTP that can use the Lahman DB). Jeff worked through 1980 (I think, somewhere around that year) and once the release dust is gone he will continue to get more years ready. We kept them in the game as it is an open beta version and we want to hear from people what they want to enhance the historical mode.

[TLK]

I gues you started a later year (post-1980)? We have to hand-edit all years from zero (not like OOTP that can use the Lahman DB). Jeff worked through 1980 (I think, somewhere around that year) and once the release dust is gone he will continue to get more years ready. We kept them in the game as it is an open beta version and we want to hear from people what they want to enhance the historical mode.

Yeah, tried to start in 1994. Everything else looks great so far.

[SirFozzie]

Thoughts so far:

Definitely a beta, but there's some good things here.

Play by Play needs some tweaks:

Q: Why use Home and Away in faceoff wins when it should be fairly easy to plug in the team names, or even the players names?

A: I prefer "The Bruins win the faceoff" or "Seguin wins the Faceoff from Gionta" to "Home Wins Faceoff"

Q: Give us some idea of when penalties happen, why and what happens..

A:for example "Oooh, hard hit from Lucic on Loktinov, and we're going to have a stoppage here, as the referee indicates a penalty.. Lucic going to the sin bin for 2 minutes for boarding"

Q: Overtime Game Winning goals are problematic

A: Just had a game where the Devils scored 2 minutes into OT, but the game didn't end. Instead the clock kept counting down (there was no more action, so the game WAS over in the engine, but the clock kept running till it hit all zeros)

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Thoughts so far:

Definitely a beta, but there's some good things here.

Play by Play needs some tweaks:

Q: Why use Home and Away in faceoff wins when it should be fairly easy to plug in the team names, or even the players names?

A: I prefer "The Bruins win the faceoff" or "Seguin wins the Faceoff from Gionta" to "Home Wins Faceoff"


Right now the PbP text are just hard-coded placeholder for demonstration (I added it minutes before the release, before it was just a technical note like "Shot". The final game will have detailed PbP text which will be linked to the Text Engine so everyone can edit it just like in OOTP.


Q: Give us some idea of when penalties happen, why and what happens..

A:for example "Oooh, hard hit from Lucic on Loktinov, and we're going to have a stoppage here, as the referee indicates a penalty.. Lucic going to the sin bin for 2 minutes for boarding"


The same as above, Penalties will be fully editable in FHM (which to use in on a per league level, how often they happen, Najor/Minor/...). I don't know when I have a chance to add it but expect at least detailed infos displayed in one of the first updates.


Q: Overtime Game Winning goals are problematic

A: Just had a game where the Devils scored 2 minutes into OT, but the game didn't end. Instead the clock kept counting down (there was no more action, so the game WAS over in the engine, but the clock kept running till it hit all zeros)

Yep, thats logged as a bug and will be fixed with the first update.

[DaddyTorgo]

That's fucking hot - so we'll be able to write our own commentary? AWESOME!!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

That's fucking hot - so we'll be able to write our own commentary? AWESOME!!

Yes, the final version will have that option. So at some point we will add it to the beta (rather early to give our text guys the possibility to add content).

[MizzouRah]

Looks like an update is in the works.. enabling player pics and some fixes from the BETA folks. I'm really excited about this game and will definitely pick up the completed version in September or when it's ready.

http://misc.ootpdevelopments.com/hockey/player_pic.PNG

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Disclaimer for the screenshot above: the game has no real logos and player pics. They are only for demonstration in this screen!

The first update is scheduled for next Monday (if nothing really nasty shows up, then we will release a fix earlier). For the future we shoot for weekly updates. Database updates are scheduled every Wednesday, starting next week.

[chadritt]

Id be curious to see a dynasty with this game if anyone feels like doing one. I think we could learn a lot about it that way.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Id be curious to see a dynasty with this game if anyone feels like doing one. I think we could learn a lot about it that way.

I don't think it is a good idea so early in the open beta process. New updates (especially the early ones) will have a good chance to not be save compatible as we add new stuff to the db on a regular basis). I don't want people to get frustrated after a while...

[Karim]

As a huge fan of EHM, I've been patiently waiting for a new hockey sim to come along so this is an automatic buy come September.

A couple of things I'm hoping for:

* realistic (i.e., difficult) trading

* realistic amateur drafts (i.e., first round picks that never make it to the NHL, third round picks that end up as All-Stars)

* related to amateur drafts is realistic player development; I like seeing my prospects develop but it would suck if everyone I draft ends up in the HHOF

Good luck to the developers!

[MizzouRah]

Disclaimer for the screenshot above: the game has no real logos and player pics. They are only for demonstration in this screen!

The first update is scheduled for next Monday (if nothing really nasty shows up, then we will release a fix earlier). For the future we shoot for weekly updates. Database updates are scheduled every Wednesday, starting next week.

Yes sir, sorry about that!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

In case you miss it on our board.

Here is the first update for FHM, Version 0.9.4:

Install instruction: After you downloaded the file just install it over your existing game (you don't need to un-install the old version first!). Make sure to select the correct path to your game if needed.

To check your version just look up the version number on the Game Start Screen (after the update it should be 0.9 BETA Build 4)

Saves from the initial 0.9.0 version are not compatible with this version!

FHM - Update 0.9.4 (http://files.ootpdevelopments.com/fhm/versions/0.9.4/fhm2014setup.exe)

Changes/Fixes/Additions:

*** 0.9.4 (11 March 2013) ***

Crash fixes:

-crash when autoplaying past July 1
-crash when changing the view from "Regular Season" to "Playoffs" on the Career Stats tab in the player record of certain goalies
-crash immediately after making player a free agent via commissioner mode
-crash when clicking contract tab from player bio after player is set to free agent in comissioner mode
-crash when editing lines after injury replacement returned to minors
-crash when attempting to sort teams by different column on standings screen
-crash when starting new WHL game with Vancouver Giants
-crash when trying to view the Atlantic Hockey Association League home screen
-crash when assistant is asked to set lines with no players dressed
-crash when clicking on NAT category from Free Agent Centre
-crash if user changes the right-side menu on Team Menu-Personnel from "Info" to "Scouting" or "Training"
-crash when clicking Play button if user is unemployed

Other bug fixes:

-neverending overtime when viewing games
-goals in overtime will stop the game but the time keeps running until 0
-award winners are occasionally being displayed in the wrong column of the "Skater Awards" history page.
-incorrect team abbreviations shown during historical play
-player name not shown when viewing unsigned draftee
-teams sending veteran players to junior affiliates
-trading deadline in historical seasons is set to date in 2013 or later
-draft picks can be offered in trade after that draft has occurred
-unable to use in-game view during playoffs
-on the season stats tab of player records for goalies, minutes total is actually showing the number of seconds the goalie has played
-large NHL salaries (DiPietro, Connolly, etc.) reduced to $525k for players who start with AHL teams
-no misconducts being called
-"Last 4 years" section of the player report showing various other 4-year portions of player's career
-junior-aged NHL players can't be returned to CHL teams
-rebound goals not showing up in play-by-play (caused it to appear that goals were being counted as shots in PbP)
-lineup automatically resetting when player returns from injury
-assistant won't set lines after injury-related lineup changes-top bars vanishes after exiting a game
-penalties/game setting displayed inaccurate number
-during contract negotiations, clicking meet demand without asking for a response will change offer to 1-year/$0 salary
-in leagues where the roster rules include lineups with <18 skaters, the Ask Assistant feature won't set the lineup despite the correct number of players being dressed
-AI teams choosing only one position in draft
-possible to initiae trade with yourself using action button on player screen if player is on affiliate
-trade offers can be amended by receiving team and are then auto-accepted
-draft picks cannot be removed from trade offer
-drafted players can be taken again in same draft
-unable to advance after user had last pick of draft
-player repeatedly returned to trade list after user takes him off
-occasionally not possible to move injured players to IR
-goalie playoff games being recorded as individual seasons in player's history

Changes:

-the two "Team Status" fields in player profile renamed to "Team Role" and "Promised Team Role" to avoid confusion
-sped up initial loading of offseason sim screen
-made text readable on offseason sim screen (before it was black on black)
-made sub-line black on manager upper area
-added support for player pictures, centre-aligned pictures < 170 pixels wide
-added "Play" button
-new version of news text file
-new version of injury file

[Doug5984]

Been playing around with the first beta, really enjoying it- I see a lot of promise. Will try to update and put in some more hours this weekend

[samifan24]

Been playing around with the first beta, really enjoying it- I see a lot of promise. Will try to update and put in some more hours this weekend

Good to hear. Thanks. Looking forward to reading more impressions.

[Maple Leafs]

Anyone playing this now that it's out? I couldn't find a thread.

[Doug5984]

Finally had a chance to mess around with it the other night, played for an hour or so then an unexpected crash during historic play. Will try to fire up normal play pretty soon. I'm more of a quick simmer than an in depth player so I won't catch smaller bugs that are out there. It's got a lot of promise, but some ares need to really be tweaked.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I bought it, but haven't played it yet.

I went to the forums and based on reports from a few weeks ago, there were still some serious issues, especially with respect to trading. I haven't checked back to see if they've been patched up yet or not.

[MizzouRah]

I've been keeping tabs on it.. still seems like it has a long way to go in the way of patches.

[Maple Leafs]

Yeah, I've been playing around with it off and on for the last week or two. Still has a long way to go. Lots of bugs, lots of unrealistic stuff (stats are screwy, way too many trades, etc), and some just plain weird decisions around the menus and interface.

Was hoping I was missing something somewhere and others were having a better time with it.

[nilodor]

I've been having fun with it, but agree that it still needs a fair bit of work to get up to release standards. It's pretty ambitious for a first attempt and they seem to be pretty responsive in fixing it up and improving the whole package. I think it will be pretty solid by the time that the regular season really picks up.

[Bisbo]

I was really looking forward to this game, but it's a real disappointment in it's current state. Very limited strategy (virtually none while a match is being played) and the 'play-by-play' in a live game is awful - no graphics at all, and the commentary only discusses face-offs and shot. Not fun, interesting or challenging at all. I expect it will get better as it incorporates OOTP type features, but as of now, it's unplayable as far as I'm concerned..

I think they might have been better off just focusing on the NHL and a very limited number of feeder leagues to start, rather than the ambitious number of international options in the game.

[The Jackal]

I kind of regret shelling out the money for it already, but I'll probably just keep it in the back pocket gaming-wise until they've released a bunch of patches and it's a solid product.

[claphamsa]

didnt they just push a major patch?

[The Jackal]

I updated it a few days ago, maybe they've done another since then - the real reason I haven't started playing it is because I can't get the logo packs to work and the default ones make it feel fake. :)

[SlyBelle1]

Looks like competition is already on its way for another Hockey Management sim....

World Hockey Manager 14 &bull; EHM The Blue Line (http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=11365)

I purchased FHM the first day it was available for beta testing and to be honest, I haven't spent a ton of time playing around with it. Just never grabbed me even though I love hockey. Something about it just doesn't make it feel immersive to me, plus knowing about all the remaining issues.

Personally, I think they made a mistake knowingly releasing a product that had many existing issues in it....I understand there are pressures to release products, but I am not a fan of this approach. Would have been better off just continuing with the beta title since based on current state, really is still that. It will be tough for me to really play this game since I am fearful of spending a lot of time setting up my management sim and only have it crash after spending all that time. That would frustrate me beyond all belief.

As you see in the forums, there is a lot of going back and forth between supporters and upset customers, which doesn't make it a desirable place to discuss the game. Since the developers released the product, I personally think the upset people have every reason to voice their opinions. The supporters defend it by saying it is only version 1, its a small company, they have a proven track record with OOTP, all games have bugs, they will patch it, etc......all that might be true, but when you charge a customer the full price for a game, they could care less about all that stuff. They expect a reasonably working game for their money.

In the end, I really do hope it turns out to be a great hockey sim but I am skeptical it will remotely reach that level until at least version #2 comes out.....hopefully they survive the onslaught of negativity until then. And hopefully some of this new competition does not pass them by.....

[chadritt]

I really can't wait to hear this game is good. I can't play most text sims since I have a mac and I love hockey but I haven't heard enough to make me willing to buy this yet.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

The 1.0.0 patch was about the 20th patch we released since Open Beta started ... and it was the worst. Believe me, nobody was more frustrated about it then me. We did our best and released 1.0.3 quickly, it should fix the most glaring problems. We already work on the next update, which will concentrate on more fixing, tweaking and some cosmetic changes. I don't care if FHM is Version 1 or Version 10, it has to be a stable foundation for the future and we will continue to work hard on it until we reach the goal.

[SlyBelle1]

The 1.0.0 patch was about the 20th patch we released since Open Beta started ... and it was the worst. Believe me, nobody was more frustrated about it then me. We did our best and released 1.0.3 quickly, it should fix the most glaring problems. We already work on the next update, which will concentrate on more fixing, tweaking and some cosmetic changes. I don't care if FHM is Version 1 or Version 10, it has to be a stable foundation for the future and we will continue to work hard on it until we reach the goal.

I do hope you succeed in the end....I absolutely love hockey and playing a management sim for hockey is my dream come true.

[The Jackal]

I do hope you succeed in the end....I absolutely love hockey and playing a management sim for hockey is my dream come true.

Ditto. I fondly remember online EHM leagues but that was a long time ago, and FM has taken over my sports sim life since then.

[Young Drachma]

Yeah I just hope it's stable by the time I have time to really play it. I'm just happy to have a hockey sim again and in OOTP form, is pretty okay with me. We'll get there...I'm just glad they're patching constantly.

[SackAttack]

Looks like competition is already on its way for another Hockey Management sim....

World Hockey Manager 14 &bull; EHM The Blue Line (http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=11365)

My first thought was "Dan Ryazansky is back?"

Looks like "nope."

[Maple Leafs]

I think they might have been better off just focusing on the NHL and a very limited number of feeder leagues to start, rather than the ambitious number of international options in the game.
This seems like it could be said about pretty much every OOTP Dev release. I will never get my head around why being able to play a career as the manager of some beer league in Uzbekistan seems like it's a priority over getting the sport's main league locked down and solid.

[Maple Leafs]

The 1.0.0 patch was about the 20th patch we released since Open Beta started ... and it was the worst. Believe me, nobody was more frustrated about it then me. We did our best and released 1.0.3 quickly, it should fix the most glaring problems. We already work on the next update, which will concentrate on more fixing, tweaking and some cosmetic changes. I don't care if FHM is Version 1 or Version 10, it has to be a stable foundation for the future and we will continue to work hard on it until we reach the goal.
I sincerely wish you luck, because I'd love to see more solid sports sims. Your PR folks were kind enough to send along a review copy, but I'll be holding off on writing anything for now.

[DaddyTorgo]

My first thought was "Dan Ryazansky is back?"

Looks like "nope."

DAN RYANZANSKY!!!

OH SNAP!!!

I used to play the shit outa WoSoMan back in my pre-FM days.

[SackAttack]

Likewise. I remember playing it on my brick of a laptop in my Mizzou days. It's still on that laptop, but given that said machine was running, like, Windows 98? Even if I could recover the install, I don't think I could play it on Windows 7!

[Mike Lowe]

Game was patched again yesterday...I haven't bought it yet because although it looks like it has potential, lots of bugs were happening...understandable I guess.

Any new impressions anyone would like to share?

[jbergey22]

Game was patched again yesterday...I haven't bought it yet because although it looks like it has potential, lots of bugs were happening...understandable I guess.

Any new impressions anyone would like to share?

Haven't been very impressed by the customer service on this game. It takes a dedicated crew to fix the mess that came out and while they are trying Im not sensing a dedicated effort. I wish Markus and Andreas would have stepped up and helped them out so they didnt over promise and under deliver.

[Marc Vaughan]

Haven't been very impressed by the customer service on this game. It takes a dedicated crew to fix the mess that came out and while they are trying Im not sensing a dedicated effort. I wish Markus and Andreas would have stepped up and helped them out so they didnt over promise and under deliver.

I think they've been putting in a very dedicated effort myself - I've been impressed with their work rate and things will only get better as they gain more experience writing sims - people tend to underestimate the value of experience with developing such games imho.

[Young Drachma]

I'm going to dive back in again and see how far I can get, I've never been able to get especially far. So long as it can run a stable number of seasons, I'll be satisfied. OOTP has raised our expectations high, these guys came into an established platform and the expectations were probably too high for them. I will admit that team OOTP didn't exactly handle PR well, but that's NEVER been their strong suit.

So you know, in the end, it's not that big a deal. They'll surely do better next year and if fewer people pre-order or buy it out of the gate, that'll probably make them more patient while they work on perfecting it or at least, making sure basic functionality works.

Lest we all remember the pre-SI days of OOTP weren't exactly a picnic either and hell, the past few years until fairly recently were pretty screwed up. These are very, very small companies with big fanbases, so they have a lot to do and they're still far more communicative than a major or indie studio would ever be.

I have faith it'll get better and I'd prefer to pay for a flawed finished product over some kind of "kickstarter" at the promise of a game a year from now.

[Jon]

My issue is this idea that we should be happy paying 40 bucks for a game still in development. They over promised and under delivered, and tr fanboys don't like the complaints.

[Young Drachma]

My issue is this idea that we should be happy paying 40 bucks for a game still in development. They over promised and under delivered, and tr fanboys don't like the complaints.

Nah, people have a legitimate gripe I believe.

[Young Drachma]

Ok, the game is a lemon. Several patches in and I've never been able to sim very far without it crashing. Tried it again this afternoon in a "well, let's just sim 50 years and see if it works" situation and it's still just as bad as it was when I first fired it up after purchase months ago. Menus are clunky, sometimes you load a league up and the menus don't even work. Restart and it can't get past a year or two.

I'm in the camp with the folks who said it should've never been released like this. I'm really forgiving about things I don't care about like play by play errors and even weird scoring things, but...when all I want is a Mogul-esque scoring engine to tell stories with and it can't even do that competently months after release, well...that's a problem.

Hopefully they let next year's version bake a long time before releasing it and give people with a valid code for this year some sort of break on next year's price for essentially doing a paid beta of the thing for them this year.

[jbergey22]

I think they've been putting in a very dedicated effort myself - I've been impressed with their work rate and things will only get better as they gain more experience writing sims - people tend to underestimate the value of experience with developing such games imho.

I am sure it is a daunting task and I take that into consideration. The problem is that I purchased this 8 months ago. I don't expect perfection but I would like the game to at least be stable enough to not crash at this point so I could make other suggestions on how to improve it such as tactics, gameflow, and AI. Right now they are still trying to keep it from crashing so a lot us havent even attempted to play it and offer up suggestions on the other aspect of what makes these games so fun.

I have purchased pretty much every simulation from FOF, GDS, OOTPB, WS, SIGames and nothing else released as been even remotely close to the frustrating experience this game as been.

It would just be nice if Markus and Andreas helped them out to get the game to a state where it doesnt crash.

I just downloaded the latest patch and even the launch screen is messed up after install. It opens up with half of the screen off the screen. Simple enough fix as I can just pull it where I want it but this is something that probably should have been fixed by now.

[Marc Vaughan]

I just downloaded the latest patch and even the launch screen is messed up after install. It opens up with half of the screen off the screen. Simple enough fix as I can just pull it where I want it but this is something that probably should have been fixed by now.

Any chance of you indicating what system you have in terms of operating system, the resolution you're using and whether you have anything semi-unusual like 'large fonts' enabled? (it obviously isn't my game - but if I can ascertain a reasonable 'bet' as to your issue I'll talk to Sebastian and see if we can get it sorted).

(a common issue with some games is relying on the system for layout and fonts and suchlike and not testing with 'large fonts' enabled - its one of the reasons my games do all their own rendering and avoid relying on the system ... simply put doing so increased the possible permutations for testing far too heavily)

[jbergey22]

Any chance of you indicating what system you have in terms of operating system, the resolution you're using and whether you have anything semi-unusual like 'large fonts' enabled? (it obviously isn't my game - but if I can ascertain a reasonable 'bet' as to your issue I'll talk to Sebastian and see if we can get it sorted).

(a common issue with some games is relying on the system for layout and fonts and suchlike and not testing with 'large fonts' enabled - its one of the reasons my games do all their own rendering and avoid relying on the system ... simply put doing so increased the possible permutations for testing far too heavily)

Thanks Marc,

The system this game is installed on has Windows 7 OS. Intel Core i7. 8GB Ram. Nothing unusual as far as settings although I do have a monitor attached to this laptop so I am using dual screens.

[RomaGoth]

I have been along for the ride with FHM since it was first announced. Did a lot of beta testing on it as well, and to be honest it is not looking good right now.

The game was released way, way, way too early. Probably should not have released it all this year and just went for a release next fall with the beginning of the 2014-15 NHL season. My sentiments are along the same lines as others on the OOTP forums in that when you pay full price for a game you expect something that is at least moderately playable. A game that crashes constantly over 3 months after release has no business being on the market.

I have no doubts that the dev team will get it all figured out and future versions will be much better, but this was a disaster of a start for them. :(

[nilodor]

I have been along for the ride with FHM since it was first announced. Did a lot of beta testing on it as well, and to be honest it is not looking good right now.

The game was released way, way, way too early. Probably should not have released it all this year and just went for a release next fall with the beginning of the 2014-15 NHL season. My sentiments are along the same lines as others on the OOTP forums in that when you pay full price for a game you expect something that is at least moderately playable. A game that crashes constantly over 3 months after release has no business being on the market.

I have no doubts that the dev team will get it all figured out and future versions will be much better, but this was a disaster of a start for them. :(

It's too bad they went for the release in September come hell or high water approach. It seems like other games have been successful following the paid alpha/beta at some discounted rate then you get the full game when it's ready approach. If they went for the latter they could still be in beta now and I think the tune of the forums would be a lot different. It's too bad because the game has many good things in it. It's just a bit of a hot mess.

[SirFozzie]

Major patch/changes out

Version 1.6.2 Game Update Now Available - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/fhm-general-discussions/241376-version-1-6-2-game-update-now-available.html)

[Honolulu_Blue]

Major patch/changes out

Version 1.6.2 Game Update Now Available - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/fhm-general-discussions/241376-version-1-6-2-game-update-now-available.html)

Thanks for the update, Foz.

I bought this back in September or October and I totally forgot it even existed.

[Mike Lowe]

Sounds like one more patch is in the works as well. I really want to get this game, but man as much as I enjoy these guys' games, this one looked rough...putting it mildly.

If it gets sorted out, I'll likely give it a shot.

[claphamsa]

yes, please let us know if this makes it playable.

[MizzouRah]

Sounds like one more patch is in the works as well. I really want to get this game, but man as much as I enjoy these guys' games, this one looked rough...putting it mildly.

If it gets sorted out, I'll likely give it a shot.

Me too...

[DaddyTorgo]

Me too...

Me three. Would love a solid hockey career sim.

I had SI's game way back when, but I don't even think I could find my info/find an installation file.
Freeware EHM is solid and still fun, but last I checked there were hoops to jump through to get it to work on more recent versions of Windows I thought?

We need to be kept appraised.

[johnnyshaka]

Sounds like there are still a few rather annoying issues like getting fired over and over again during a single season even when "Can't Be Fired" is selected. Also, hiring head coaches was setup but apparently wasn't supposed to be implemented for this release but was enabled for whatever reason so that messes things up, too.

I don't think I'm going to invest any time in this patch either but I'll continue to scan the forums to see how they plan to deal with the latest issues.

[Mike Lowe]

Sounds like there are still a few rather annoying issues like getting fired over and over again during a single season

Wow, this game is so NHL! That's an impressive feature ;)

[MizzouRah]

Sounds like there are still a few rather annoying issues like getting fired over and over again during a single season even when "Can't Be Fired" is selected. Also, hiring head coaches was setup but apparently wasn't supposed to be implemented for this release but was enabled for whatever reason so that messes things up, too.

I don't think I'm going to invest any time in this patch either but I'll continue to scan the forums to see how they plan to deal with the latest issues.

Dammit.. thanks though..

[Honolulu_Blue]

Sounds like there are still a few rather annoying issues like getting fired over and over again during a single season even when "Can't Be Fired" is selected. Also, hiring head coaches was setup but apparently wasn't supposed to be implemented for this release but was enabled for whatever reason so that messes things up, too.

I don't think I'm going to invest any time in this patch either but I'll continue to scan the forums to see how they plan to deal with the latest issues.

Keep scanning the forums and keep us posted!

[DaddyTorgo]

In the meantime we can blame all the hockey-loving Scandinavian pirates who pirated SI's game instead of paying for it.

Cheap-ass socialist motherfuckers.

[jbergey22]

Havent tested this but that is one impressive looking patch. I have been hard on them two and this release but I think they are doing everything possible to make things right. Just seeing the work they put into this new patch changed my attitude from a negative to a positive outlook on the future of this series.

[jbergey22]

In the meantime we can blame all the hockey-loving Scandinavian pirates who pirated SI's game instead of paying for it.

Cheap-ass socialist motherfuckers.

LOL, I wont get into the name calling of society's. But the people that did that, fucked it up for the rest of us.

[DaddyTorgo]

LOL, I wont get into the name calling of society's. But the people that did that, fucked it up for the rest of us.

I was kidding around. I actually love socialist Europeans.

[Johnny93g]

The UI was the main reason i shelved the game and eventually asked for my money back. I felt it lacked a common sense touch to it. Click fest, a chore to do anything, no real direction on what you needed to do.

So i went over to OOTP today, and there's a long thread on UI suggestions. Got my hopes up.

Reading through the thread, seems like the developer, who to his credit, is reading and responding, doesn't seem that interested in making many changes to how the UI plays. Shame. I'm the game's target market. Can't believe I have no interest in this game as it stands....

[DaddyTorgo]

The UI was the main reason i shelved the game and eventually asked for my money back. I felt it lacked a common sense touch to it. Click fest, a chore to do anything, no real direction on what you needed to do.

So i went over to OOTP today, and there's a long thread on UI suggestions. Got my hopes up.

Reading through the thread, seems like the developer, who to his credit, is reading and responding, doesn't seem that interested in making many changes to how the UI plays. Shame. I'm the game's target market. Can't believe I have no interest in this game as it stands....
:(

[Marc Vaughan]

Reading through the thread, seems like the developer, who to his credit, is reading and responding, doesn't seem that interested in making many changes to how the UI plays. Shame. I'm the game's target market. Can't believe I have no interest in this game as it stands....

(Disclaimer - I haven't read the thread you're talking about and have only casually played FHM)

One thing to bear in mind with games is that often UI rework is left to future versions in the main - this is because a 'coherant/familiar' UI is sometimes better than an enhanced but disjoined/unfamiliar one ... on my own products I'll only generally do minor UI enhancements in updates, leaving revamps to the next full version to avoid alienating people who are 'used' to the current version.

[johnnyshaka]

A new patch (1.6.8) is out:

Version 1.6.8 Game Update Now Available - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/fhm-general-discussions/242191-version-1-6-8-game-update-now-available.html)

Our latest post-release game update, Version 1.6.8, is now available.

You can download the new version at:

(PC) FHM - Update 1.6.8
(Mac) FHM - Update 1.6.8

PC Installation instructions: After you download the file just install it over your existing game (you don't need to uninstall the old version first.) Make sure to select the correct path to your game if needed.
Mac Installation instructions: After you download the .dmg file, open it, move the fhm.app file to your applications folder and copy over the old version.

After installation, the game should display "Version 1.6.8" at the bottom of the statup screen; if it shows a different build number, you'll need to re-download and reinstall (and before doing so, make sure the update file you downloaded has been deleted and your browser cache cleared.)

Note that if you decide to uninstall and reinstall, you should first release one of your licenses via Preferences-License on the start screen.

Saves from earlier versions are compatible with this version, but, as always, to get the best results from the patch it's recommended you start a new game. If you continue an earlier save and have problems, please let us know that it's a pre-1.6.8 save when you report the issue.

Introduction:

This is the followup patch to 1.6.2, fixing various issues noted with that one and correcting some other long-standing problems.

Free Agency, particularly in the NHL, got a lot of attention. Restricted Free Agents should now be handled properly, and the AI teams will now attempt offer sheets (and match them) at a realistic rate. Contract demands have been lowered for unproven players, which should also help teams' ability to retain their good young players. And players should now be much more willing to resume negotiations after breaking them off - for example, players given a minimum qualifying offer on June 30 in order to retain their rights will still become upset and refuse to negotiate for a while, but that period will end within a month. I still don't think the AI is doing the best possible job of handling free agents, particularly its own RFA's, but now that we've got the mechanics of free agency functioning properly, we can make adjustments to its behaviour and know that the rules will be applied properly.

The option to hire a head coach has been removed - this was the source of a large number of issues people were having with the AI mysteriously making decisions for them even while it was turned off. While we want to eventually offer the option to hire a coach and play only as a GM, it needs to be implemented properly and not in the incomplete, confusing way it was working in 1.6.2.

Barring any emergency fixes, this will be the last update for a while, until the match engine patch is ready. That patch will include major changes to the in-game view, tactics, and other related systems, as well as a few other new additions and changes we'll announce when we're a little closer to the release time.

Bug Fixes and Other Changes

Transactions, Contracts, and Rosters:
-No longer possible to hire a head coach - for now, the user is always Coach/GM.
-March 5 quickstart cap set to $71.1m (next year's value) to minimize the amount of roster adjustments needed.
-Contract demands for younger players, particularly those on second contracts, and older ones with limited experience at the level of the team they're negotiating with should now be significantly reduced.
-Players will be willing to resume broken-off negotiations much sooner now.
-Coach and GM firing rates re-tuned.
-Multiple coach firings in a season for one team should now be extremely rare.
-Late-season coach and GM firings now less likely.
-Rights to qualified RFA's should now be retained properly.
-Offer sheets can now be made to RFA's normally.
-AI teams will now attempt to sign RFA's to offer sheets, and get the option to match offer sheets to their own players (they tend to match very aggressively, as they do in real life, so successful offer sheets won't happen often.)
-Sudden changes in contract value on July 1 in certain leagues fixed.
-AI adjusted to place a higher value on draft picks.
-AI will now attempt to hold a contract space in reserve to allow more flexibility while trading.
-Users should no longer get GM job offers from leagues they're currently employed in.
-Abandoned contract negotiations in major junior should no longer result in 1-year, $0 contracts.
-NHL teams should have a slightly-increased preference for signing North American players.
-Emergency tryout contracts should tend to go to players from the same region/state as the team.
-Contract offers should no longer occasionally reappear after being removed by the player.
-Players should no longer be willing to accept contracts longer than 3 years with salaries below the league average level.
-Transfer deadline restrictions should now reset correctly for nonplayable leagues with post-January 1 deadlines.
-"Minor option" checkbox should be functional in negotiation screens if the rule is enabled for that league.
-Should no longer be possible on draft day to trade picks that have already been used.
-Entry-level contracts in leagues that allow 2-way contracts must now be 2-way.
-User should now be able to sign staff from lower-level leagues during the offseason.

Player and Staff Ratings, Development, and Performance:
-Player ability should now update properly on user-controlled teams.
-Limited the effect of scouting error on displayed player attributes.
-Players should no longer change uniform numbers while on the injured list.
-Determination and Leadership should no longer increase to high levels for almost all veteran players.
-Altered ranges for hidden personality descriptions in scouting reports, too many guys with neutral numbers were having those described as weaknesses.

League/Mode-Specific Issues:
-Crash with certain custom mode league setups fixed.
-Scouts should now work properly in historical mode.
-Various errors in handling of overage players in major junior fixed.
-In leagues with salary caps, contracts of players assigned to that team by a parent club should have a cap hit (to the team they've been loaned to) equal to the league minimum salary (in that league), instead of the $0 cap hit they currently get (mainly affects the ECHL.)
-Finnish junior leagues should now have no roster limit on 20-year-old players.
-CHL teams should no longer sign players with the college preference.
-OHL league rules now specify the correct number of overagers.
-Historical games started in years where the schedule started after January 1 should now begin at the correct date.
-UK teams should no longer be able to make transfer offers within their own league.
-Current NHL playoff system fixed so the two divisional leaders are seeded correctly.
-Player salary demands in historical games should now take into account entry-level restrictions.

News, History, and Related Issues:
-Rookies in historic mode will no longer be draft-ineligible, leading to empty drafts after 2-3 years.
-Draft reports now appear a couple of additional times a year.
-Draft reports should be "written" by the team's scout with the highest draft potential rating.
-Sorting protected list while in the process of setting it should no longer copy players to the list.
-Correct arena names should be displayed in box scores and game reports for arena mode.
-Draft reports removed from historical mode (they wouldn't work properly because of the way the drafts are scheduled in that mode.)
-Certain team names should no longer display as blank in "Last 4" and Career Stats.
-Owner season expectations should now be more realistic in historical mode.
-Maximum minor league salary on 2-way entry-level NHL deals now set to $70,000.
-Goals Against leaders in league home screen should now display correctly.

Gameplay:
-Crash when attempting to view playoff game reports fixed.
-If a player with a No-movement clause somehow winds up on a farm team (e.g. via editing), he should no longer be prevented from being called up by the clause.
-Players acquired on waivers should get scouted to A-level as soon as they join the new team.
-Random name files updated and expanded.
-Crash when trying to view staff tab of inactive teams fixed.
-User's GM contract should be automatically renewed (if you want to leave the team, use the resign option on the user menu.)
-Maximum editable injury frequency increased to 3.0 from 1.4.
-A few situation-specific crashes fixed.
-Debugging-related dumping of CSV reports turned off.
-"Strengths" description removed from evaluation of trading partner (it wasn't that useful, and wasn't showing anything most of the time anyhow.)
-When scouting is delegated to the AI assistant, its choice of targets shouldn't become overly focused on the local region after the first assignments end.

Graphical/UI:
-Sort order for PP and PK% in league stats fixed.
-Various changes to the way the game retains sort orders in a number of different screens.
-Team/league/game names on the upper bar of the screen should now link to the appropriate screen.
-Ties should now be displayed properly on the autosim screen in leagues where they're used.
-Right-click option to offer contract should always appear for eligible players now (i.e., no longer necessary to open the player screen to check if it works there.)
-Incorrect total for shooting percentage on split section of player screen fixed.
-New Draft Info view available (and set as default) during draft with more draft-relevant categories (height, weight, etc.)
-Certain weaknesses should no longer be repeated in scouting report.
-Current role description in scouting report should now properly describe role of player in league he is currently in.
-Should now be possible, after changing views, to go directly from looking at one of a team's farm teams to another.
-Various small typos and grammatical errors fixed.
-Players put on reserve list of farm teams should no longer become invisible to the user.
-Error in formula for playmaking rating fixed.
-A few unused filter names ("Minor Awards", etc.) removed from the news filter list.
-Attribute sorting on Ratings views of roster screen should now work properly.
-After looking at a multiple-tab table (e.g. free agents) and then adding a filter that reduces the number of entries to a number lower than the current tab, the table should automatically revent to the 1-100 tab.

[DaddyTorgo]

That's a ton of fixes - curious to hear how it plays now.

[Solecismic]

Congratulations on making Steam.

[DaddyTorgo]

Any news on how it plays now?

Jim - how's the FOF Steam campaign??

[Solecismic]

We can talk about that in the Greenlight item. Don't want to t/j FHM, especially on its big day.

[DaddyTorgo]

I'm curious how FHM plays now - especially now that it's on Steam with all those fixes. Any impressions from those here that have purchased?

[vex]

Is there a demo?

[cubboyroy1826]

Just figured I would ask as well now that I see the game is just $19.99 on Steam. Worth it or still too many issues?

[EagleFan]

Move the decimal one more place to the left and you may have the worth.

[Young Drachma]

I mean, it's the first gen of the game. No big shock. I figure they can work the kinks out and get it better, but should you pay for it now? No, I'd wait until the next version. You probably won't get much enjoyment out of it now.

[PilotMan]

Gonna bump this:

Gamersgate has this for $5 for another couple days.

Franchise Hockey Manager - Buy and download on GamersGate (http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-FHM/franchise-hockey-manager)

[EagleFan]

Still over priced...

[DaddyTorgo]

Still over priced...

Yeah? :(

[PilotMan]

I picked it up, but my expectations are low and I haven't played any hockey game seriously since SOM 20 years ago.

[Grover]

Still over-priced and still broken as hell.

[MizzouRah]

I've been using NHL 15 last gen for my hockey simulator, it's actually pretty decent with sim stats and player progression. I don't play the games like I do with NHL 15 current gen.

There is a new version of FHM in the works though.. so I'll keep checking back!

[Honolulu_Blue]

I bought this months ago and I just now remembered that I own it. And I'm "Hockey Boy" for fuck's sake!

That's sad.

[Johnny93g]

FHM2 has come out, and i was taking a look over at the ootp forums.

Saw these trades posted.

Trade with Dallas
- To Detroit: Tyler Seguin
- To Dallas: Pavel Datsyuk, Zach Nastasiuk, 2nd and 7th (2016)

Trade with Tampa
- To Detroit: Victor Hedman
- To Tampa: Johan Franzen, 1st and 2nd (2018), 2nd and 3rd (2017)

Detroit was the human team. That's pretty bad i think. Trading older declining players for young franchise level players that easily.

A cpu trade has Edmonton trading the Hopkins to Florida for Pirri and prospect Mattheson.

How does that make any sense?

I haven't bought the game, but stuff like this makes it easy for me not to bother at this point.

I understand trade AI isn't easy, but to me, that's broken.

[Mike Lowe]

So join an online league! We start next week!

[jbergey22]

I received a couple of emails about this game and was thinking about purchasing. Problem is that I still have bitterness about how they handled the first one. A lot of broken promises. From the things I have read it is much improved but I did read that the trade AI isnt very good. I am sure I will end up getting this once I read a few more positive reviews.

[Johnny93g]

The games great so far but what ive noticed is that on the second day of free agency teams are signing players and trading them right away

Saw that posted over on the FHM2 impressions thread.

If that's true, that's a game killer for me.

[NoSkillz]

I didn't get the original FHM but I think I'll bite the bullet and buy this tonight when I get home, if only because they've made it available for the Mac. I'll post thoughts if I get the chance to fiddle with it tonight.

I'm a die-hard supporter of Riz and EHM and bought the recent EHM-EA version but since it's not available for Mac at the moment, I can't play it.

[SlyBelle1]

I haven't played around with the new version much yet, but always seems trading logic in most games are criticized. I wonder if some of it is because we react to the actual player names, versus the ratings and game situation within the game itself, which may not mirror real life. Now that may mean the player's stats/ratings need to be adjusted, don't know. If this was a fictional universe and you really looked at all aspects within the game itself, maybe not as bad as it seems.

....but of course could also be bad depending on those things:)

[jbergey22]

The designers need to figure out a way to design a value for each player based on settings. Just a single number for each player such as in baseball Trout would be 100 based on age, contract, and production, where as certain people with bad contracts and past their prime(Joe Mauer) would have a negative value. Trade setting would determine to which level the computer will accept trades.

OOTP Baseball does a decent job of just not allowing you to throw a bunch of players in that have no value to get a player you want. Still could be improved a bit but its certainly improved over the years.

Throwing in a bunch of players that have no value should not make the computer accept a trade.

[Johnny93g]

The designers need to figure out a way to design a value for each player based on settings. Just a single number for each player such as in baseball Trout would be 100 based on age, contract, and production, where as certain people with bad contracts and past their prime(Joe Mauer) would have a negative value. Trade setting would determine to which level the computer will accept trades.

OOTP Baseball does a decent job of just not allowing you to throw a bunch of players in that have no value to get a player you want. Still could be improved a bit but its certainly improved over the years.

Throwing in a bunch of players that have no value should not make the computer accept a trade.

Totally agree.

I don't care if the players have names we know or not. I don't want to play a game where Johan Franzen and a bunch of future draft picks get you Victor Hedman, or any equivalent of that. I acknowledge how difficult it is to get trade AI right, and how it will never be perfect, but an engine that SEEMS to allow this is not good enough in my books.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Totally agree.

I don't care if the players have names we know or not. I don't want to play a game where Johan Franzen and a bunch of future draft picks get you Victor Hedman, or any equivalent of that. I acknowledge how difficult it is to get trade AI right, and how it will never be perfect, but an engine that SEEMS to allow this is not good enough in my books.

I, for one, would not be opposed to such a game. Welcome to Detroit, Mr. Hedman!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Thats exactly how the Trade AI in FHM works. Every player has a single number value, every draft pick gets a value based on the upcoming draft class and the expected pick number. Believe me, we try to tweak this as often as possible but getting the balancing right is really tough. Then you have scouting factored in as well. But the human just knows if e.g. a player is over/under-rated by the scouts whereas the AI does not know the name.

I know that the Trade AI is far from perfect and we use the feedback from users to further tweak it.

The designers need to figure out a way to design a value for each player based on settings. Just a single number for each player such as in baseball Trout would be 100 based on age, contract, and production, where as certain people with bad contracts and past their prime(Joe Mauer) would have a negative value. Trade setting would determine to which level the computer will accept trades.

OOTP Baseball does a decent job of just not allowing you to throw a bunch of players in that have no value to get a player you want. Still could be improved a bit but its certainly improved over the years.

Throwing in a bunch of players that have no value should not make the computer accept a trade.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thats exactly how the Trade AI in FHM works. Every player has a single number value, every draft pick gets a value based on the upcoming draft class and the expected pick number. Believe me, we try to tweak this as often as possible but getting the balancing right is really tough. Then you have scouting factored in as well. But the human just knows if e.g. a player is over/under-rated by the scouts whereas the AI does not know the name.

I know that the Trade AI is far from perfect and we use the feedback from users to further tweak it.

Seems as though the example that was given could be one worth looking into more specifically.

Trade with Tampa
- To Detroit: Victor Hedman
- To Tampa: Johan Franzen, 1st and 2nd (2018), 2nd and 3rd (2017)

I will admit that there could be too many save-specific variables -- mods? scouts quality? draft class? -- involved for an exhaustive examination of the formula but if the same deal is readily duplicated by numerous users at/near startup conditions (I have no idea whether that's the case) then it would
seems like a good opportunity to look at the formula, determine how & why something that smells rather off is happening & what tweaks could prevent it in a future build.

[djsatu]

I caved and bought the game, but the trade engine is beyond broken. Can't enjoy the game when you see stuff like this (All these were done at the 10 game mark, with trade frequency at 5)

Trade # 1

Florida sends Dave Bolland to Anaheim for Despres.

Again people say the game doesn't take names into account, but no way this trade happens in real life. No way.

Trade # 2 Minny sends Darcy Kuemper to Washington for Sean Collins.

Meh, nothing major here.

Trade # 3

Florida sends Willie Mitchell to Calgary for Derek Engellend.

2 aging players, but makes no sense for Calgary to make this trade as Engellend is 5 years younger.

Trade # 4

NJ sends Mackenzie Blackwood to Carolina for Jeff Skinner.

Unless Blackwood is an next up and coming top tier goalie prospect, there is no way Carolina trades one of there best young players for this prospect straight up.

Trade # 5

Carolina trades Eddie Lack and Brendan Collier to Ottawa for Wiercioch.

This trade doesn't make any sense on any level.

Trade # 6

Buffalo trades Foligno to Calgary for Smid.

Why would Buffalo do this?

Trade # 7

Nashville trades Jackman and Nystrom to Toronto for Reilly.

This is just as bad as the Couture - Engelland trade that was posted on here. Stud young d-man for 2 over the hill players that add nothing to Toronto.

Also Montreal put Tinordi on waivers, whom I happily picked up for free.
Picked up JT Brown from TB on waivers after he was passed on, then was offered a deal for him a week later from Nashville that I refused.

UPDATE: Ottawa waives Eddie Lack exactly 30 days after he was dealt

[JeffR]

Seems as though the example that was given could be one worth looking into more specifically.

Trade with Tampa
- To Detroit: Victor Hedman
- To Tampa: Johan Franzen, 1st and 2nd (2018), 2nd and 3rd (2017)

I will admit that there could be too many save-specific variables -- mods? scouts quality? draft class? -- involved for an exhaustive examination of the formula but if the same deal is readily duplicated by numerous users at/near startup conditions (I have no idea whether that's the case) then it would
seems like a good opportunity to look at the formula, determine how & why something that smells rather off is happening & what tweaks could prevent it in a future build.

Well, let's break down what could be going on here:

Hedman may be underrated. Checking the database, doesn't look too bad. Top 10 in the league with potential to be Top 5.

Hedman's contract may be too expensive for his talent level. (Something that people really seem to miss when talking about the trade AI is that freeing cap space has tangible value in the NHL, and a deal that may not look like it makes sense on a 1-for-1 basis may be perfectly reasonable when you consider the cap implications.) But no, a $4m cap hit is actually cheap for what Hedman's worth.

Franzen may be overrated. Looks like a bit of a problem here, he's a little too good given his last two seasons. I'll tone him down some.

Franzen's contract may be particularly cheap for his talent level. Also around a $4m hit, which is in line with his talent level as currently stated in the game, but once I fix that, he'll be a little more expensive and less valuable.

Pick valuation could be off. The AI, when valuing picks, looks forward at the draft pool for that year and gets an approximate value for what a player picked in that particular spot will be worth. We're looking at the 2017 and 2018 drafts here, 2-3 years in advance, so, when researching, it's a little difficult for us to rate those kids at this point and they depend partially on randomization and some generated fictional players. If the systems that handle those things are a little too generous right now, that could be inflating the talent level in those rounds, and with it the value of those early-round picks that make up most of the deal. I'll have to dig through some test saves to evaluate that a little more accurately. Those first few drafts, between the first one where there's a ton of information available on the prospects but before the player generation system kicks in 100%, are always a pain to get balanced right.

There are the team motivations to look at, too. This is probably happening in the first place because Detroit's looking for a #1 defenceman. But normally Tampa wouldn't qualify as a target for them because they don't have a surplus of top defencemen - it's a long step from Hedman to Garrison and Coburn. We'll have to check the code there and make sure it's looking at the prerequisites properly. And Detroit arguably doesn't need another top defenceman in the first place with Kronwall and Green around. But it looks like Kronwall's ratings are a little too harsh on him, leaving them just below the threshold that makes the Wings think they need someone better. I'm going to bump him up a little.

Aside from the ratings fixes, the first attempt at improving the trade logic will probably tone down the salary/quality comparison a bit, so that doesn't have such a large effect on trade valuation. I'm also going to have the guys check the way the value reduction for age is working right now - that's a big problem with this deal, Franzen's age should hurt his value badly. I think him having 5 years remaining on his contract may be short-circuiting the logic normally used there, since the AI tends to assume (somewhat accurately) that a player won't retire before his contract is up. But I suspect it's not doing a good job discounting him based on his likely decline before then.

Unrelated to this deal, we also need to figure out how to put a roster hold on higher-quality recently-acquired players, so the AI isn't trading them again or dumping them so quickly. That'll be a little more involved, so it won't be in the first quick fixes.

Longer-term, the roster AI, including trading, is probably going to be looking at a fundamental overhaul. It's built on some of the oldest code in the game, and that's really starting to show. It needs to become a lot more efficient and flexible, both to speed up the game and produce better results, particularly with regard the different management styles necessary in different types of leagues. I definitely don't want to try doing college hockey before that happens, and the historical, junior and European team AI's would be considerably improved if they were designed from the ground up to operate in their unique environments.

On a more philosophical note: good trading AI is difficult to do even in very straightforward leagues. Markus has been working on it for a decade and a half in OOTP and still gets complaints. When you add the complications of drafts, free agency possibilities, cap implications, and everything else that affects the way NHL GM's value players, it gets a lot tougher. We'll always be doing what we can to improve it, but it's going to be a gradual process; making radical AI changes rapidly never turns out well. But it's never going to produce perfectly balanced trades 100% of the time, and it shouldn't - bad trades are part of sports, and not having any is as bad as having too many. We'll keep pushing towards the right balance between the two.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Well, let's break down what could be going on here:

Seems like a reasonable approach
;)

Pick valuation could be off.
Your description of how the AI handles the value of picks seems like a solid enough one, with the caveat of assuming it gets the values right. Better than the more traditional (I think) gaming approach that might just say average-value-of-pick-X-is-Y.

But it looks like Kronwall's ratings are a little too harsh on him, leaving them just below the threshold that makes the Wings think they need someone better.

This is actually something that I see with a number of hockey games (I think). Chasing the magical one point improvement to get a "true #1" or making it a priority over other improvements that could be more meaningful overall. Not sure how far a game can go to make the logic "think" more broadly, it's not something I feel like I see done all that often tbh.

[Johnny93g]

Jeff talking about the Hedman Franzen trade

That's some really good stuff there, and i appreciate it. Everything you said makes sense, and it's the kind of thing that gives me some hope that this game will be good in the end. I really want it to be great. I'm a hockey guy who likes text sims.

I don't think ill be picking it up in the near future, but if this is where the development is going, then i do believe it's only a matter of time.

I would say that devaluing future picks significantly is probably the best way to handle that aspect. Because there's so much uncertainty surrounding them, picks 2-4 years in the future don't carry nearly as much value as current picks, and one of my pet peeves the complete sporting game genre is how the use of future picks can be somewhat easily exploited against CPU opponents.

[JeffR]

Your description of how the AI handles the value of picks seems like a solid enough one, with the caveat of assuming it gets the values right. Better than the more traditional (I think) gaming approach that might just say average-value-of-pick-X-is-Y.

It's actually a little more complex than I described. There are certain ranges it'll be limited to, but the focus there is primarily on the down side - I wanted to preserve the chance of teams anticipating an occasional very deep draft class like the 2016 one is getting hyped to be.

[JeffR]

I would say that devaluing future picks significantly is probably the best way to handle that aspect. Because there's so much uncertainty surrounding them, picks 2-4 years in the future don't carry nearly as much value as current picks, and one of my pet peeves the complete sporting game genre is how the use of future picks can be somewhat easily exploited against CPU opponents.

Yup, the value is lowered a bit, it's not the literal potential of the prospect likely to go on that slot. The exact amount depends on the preferences of the team evaluating it - if they're in rebuild mode, it's less of a reduction, in win-now mode it's more.

[RomaGoth]

I, for one, would not be opposed to such a game. Welcome to Detroit, Mr. Hedman!

I echo this sentiment. Now, if you will please sign here, initial here and here, we can have that 10 year contract done straight away.

[RomaGoth]

Well, let's break down what could be going on here:

Hedman may be underrated. Checking the database, doesn't look too bad. Top 10 in the league with potential to be Top 5.

Hedman's contract may be too expensive for his talent level. (Something that people really seem to miss when talking about the trade AI is that freeing cap space has tangible value in the NHL, and a deal that may not look like it makes sense on a 1-for-1 basis may be perfectly reasonable when you consider the cap implications.) But no, a $4m cap hit is actually cheap for what Hedman's worth.

Franzen may be overrated. Looks like a bit of a problem here, he's a little too good given his last two seasons. I'll tone him down some.

Franzen's contract may be particularly cheap for his talent level. Also around a $4m hit, which is in line with his talent level as currently stated in the game, but once I fix that, he'll be a little more expensive and less valuable.

Pick valuation could be off. The AI, when valuing picks, looks forward at the draft pool for that year and gets an approximate value for what a player picked in that particular spot will be worth. We're looking at the 2017 and 2018 drafts here, 2-3 years in advance, so, when researching, it's a little difficult for us to rate those kids at this point and they depend partially on randomization and some generated fictional players. If the systems that handle those things are a little too generous right now, that could be inflating the talent level in those rounds, and with it the value of those early-round picks that make up most of the deal. I'll have to dig through some test saves to evaluate that a little more accurately. Those first few drafts, between the first one where there's a ton of information available on the prospects but before the player generation system kicks in 100%, are always a pain to get balanced right.

There are the team motivations to look at, too. This is probably happening in the first place because Detroit's looking for a #1 defenceman. But normally Tampa wouldn't qualify as a target for them because they don't have a surplus of top defencemen - it's a long step from Hedman to Garrison and Coburn. We'll have to check the code there and make sure it's looking at the prerequisites properly. And Detroit arguably doesn't need another top defenceman in the first place with Kronwall and Green around. But it looks like Kronwall's ratings are a little too harsh on him, leaving them just below the threshold that makes the Wings think they need someone better. I'm going to bump him up a little.

Aside from the ratings fixes, the first attempt at improving the trade logic will probably tone down the salary/quality comparison a bit, so that doesn't have such a large effect on trade valuation. I'm also going to have the guys check the way the value reduction for age is working right now - that's a big problem with this deal, Franzen's age should hurt his value badly. I think him having 5 years remaining on his contract may be short-circuiting the logic normally used there, since the AI tends to assume (somewhat accurately) that a player won't retire before his contract is up. But I suspect it's not doing a good job discounting him based on his likely decline before then.

Unrelated to this deal, we also need to figure out how to put a roster hold on higher-quality recently-acquired players, so the AI isn't trading them again or dumping them so quickly. That'll be a little more involved, so it won't be in the first quick fixes.

Longer-term, the roster AI, including trading, is probably going to be looking at a fundamental overhaul. It's built on some of the oldest code in the game, and that's really starting to show. It needs to become a lot more efficient and flexible, both to speed up the game and produce better results, particularly with regard the different management styles necessary in different types of leagues. I definitely don't want to try doing college hockey before that happens, and the historical, junior and European team AI's would be considerably improved if they were designed from the ground up to operate in their unique environments.

On a more philosophical note: good trading AI is difficult to do even in very straightforward leagues. Markus has been working on it for a decade and a half in OOTP and still gets complaints. When you add the complications of drafts, free agency possibilities, cap implications, and everything else that affects the way NHL GM's value players, it gets a lot tougher. We'll always be doing what we can to improve it, but it's going to be a gradual process; making radical AI changes rapidly never turns out well. But it's never going to produce perfectly balanced trades 100% of the time, and it shouldn't - bad trades are part of sports, and not having any is as bad as having too many. We'll keep pushing towards the right balance between the two.

It's actually a little more complex than I described. There are certain ranges it'll be limited to, but the focus there is primarily on the down side - I wanted to preserve the chance of teams anticipating an occasional very deep draft class like the 2016 one is getting hyped to be.

Yup, the value is lowered a bit, it's not the literal potential of the prospect likely to go on that slot. The exact amount depends on the preferences of the team evaluating it - if they're in rebuild mode, it's less of a reduction, in win-now mode it's more.

Thanks for the all hard work and explaining here as to what your thoughts are. The first iteration of FHM was a dumpster fire, but you guys have really taken a lot of feedback and improved this version immensely. I bought it yesterday and will continue to support sports text sims as long as the developer shows they are listening and want to continuously improve their product.

[BishopMVP]

Seems as though the example that was given could be one worth looking into more specifically.

Trade with Tampa
- To Detroit: Victor Hedman
- To Tampa: Johan Franzen, 1st and 2nd (2018), 2nd and 3rd (2017)

I will admit that there could be too many save-specific variables -- mods? scouts quality? draft class? -- involved for an exhaustive examination of the formula but if the same deal is readily duplicated by numerous users at/near startup conditions (I have no idea whether that's the case) then it would
seems like a good opportunity to look at the formula, determine how & why something that smells rather off is happening & what tweaks could prevent it in a future build.I found some more trades along those lines... Dougie Hamilton (6 year contract, $5.75m/y deal) traded for a 1st & 2 2nd round picks. Then Tyler Seguin (again, 6 year contract at $5.75m/y) traded for Loui Erikson, Reilly Smith and Joe Morrow. No way a team would be dumb enough to trade one 22 y/o budding superstar for that low a return, let alone double down on the same choice a second time.

Snark aside (and assuming you don't have dynamic GM's where some are just bad at their job), good to see the developer looking to fix things. I guess my one contribution would be to ask if teams also project how good the other team is going to be - that's always been one area ripe for players ripping off the AI in most games. Even in FOF, if I want I can trade my future 1st and a little extra for a terrible team's 1st if I do it a year in advance.

[Ramzavail]

I was able to start a fictional league, rename all the team names, create minors and feeder leagues and sim 10 seasons within an hour. Sim speed is super impressive. Stats so far look pretty realistic. Save PCT looks a touch too low and GAA looks a touch too high, but I haven't fiddled with any sliders.

I am impressed with how many things they took from OOTP (although I wish they have implemented the ability to go back by hitting the right mouse button). Facegen, popup windows with stats when hovering over the player, icons for awards. Really impressive. I can see myself getting immersed in this a lot more than I ever did with (new) EHM.

[NoSkillz]

Agreed on the sim speed. It's VERY impressive indeed. It was taking me approximately one to two minutes to sim through an entire season in historical mode (during original six era - no farm teams, no other leagues running).

I have fiddled a bit with the historical mode and it's a lot of fun seeing those old names.

There was an "interesting" thing I saw regarding Bobby Orr as I was quick simming. I stopped simming in 1970 and noticed he was on Minnesota so I took a look at his history. He was drafted by Boston in 1966 in the game but one year later, he had signed with Minnesota as a free agent.

"Well, that's kind of strange", I thought.

He'd go on to win rookie of the year with the North Stars the next year and win the Conn Smythe for playoff MVP as well despite his North Stars losing the Cup final. He'd end up soon signing the highest contract in the NHL within two years.

Now, that *could* be a bug that Boston didn't get a 5 star prospect signed OR it could be a super cool feature if Orr (kind of like real life with Alan Eagleson) and his agent were greedy enough to hold out and not sign with Boston, becoming a free agent at the end of the year and eventually just signing a huge contract with Minnesota.

While the developer fixes the bugs with the new release, I think I'm going to write up a little dynasty about this historical mode here - it's lots of fun and the sim engine seems pretty spot on with stats thus far so it could be an enjoyable exercise. Would anyone be interested in reading that?

[RomaGoth]

...I think I'm going to write up a little dynasty about this historical mode here - it's lots of fun and the sim engine seems pretty spot on with stats thus far so it could be an enjoyable exercise. Would anyone be interested in reading that?

Sure would!

[JeffR]

Now, that *could* be a bug that Boston didn't get a 5 star prospect signed OR it could be a super cool feature if Orr (kind of like real life with Alan Eagleson) and his agent were greedy enough to hold out and not sign with Boston, becoming a free agent at the end of the year and eventually just signing a huge contract with Minnesota.

It's most likely a weird thing going on with pre-season roster handling, probably related to some combination of league rules settings common to the 60's-70's-80's, since that's when it's most apparent. We haven't been able to pin down exactly what's doing it yet.

[MizzouRah]

There is a patch today..

I'm going to pick this up tonight to save $10 :)

I assume we need to load logos/jerseys/rinks/facegen stuff or is some of that included in the game?

I want to start present day with the Blues so I guess those rosters/facegen are in the game already?

[Mike Lowe]

Facegens are still being worked on, but are available for some teams. I've assembled a logos/jerseys/helmets package (compilation of others' work, not my own original) for the guys in our SSG Hockey league.

That link is found on our website under the SSG Hockey tab.

[Mike Lowe]

I've just posted to the website our catch-up calendar/schedule, an updated rules page, and a link for NHL graphics (with readme files).

We still have teams available, and once the patch drops today, I'll be uploading our first league file. Come get a team while the original batch lasts!

www.simsportsglobal.com (http://www.simsportsglobal.com)
Leagues--SSG Hockey

[Sebastian Palkowski]

As an old OOTP commish myself (the old German Baseball League, good old OOTP 3-6 times ;)) I want online leagues to be a big part of FHM in the future (and not only another feature). I know the functionality is basic so far but we want to advance it based on user feedback over time (I'm long out of online league business due to work so really look forward to see what leagues come up with regarding improving this feature).

Please let me closely follow it so we can work out improvements as quickly as possible.

I've just posted to the website our catch-up calendar/schedule, an updated rules page, and a link for NHL graphics (with readme files).

We still have teams available, and once the patch drops today, I'll be uploading our first league file. Come get a team while the original batch lasts!

www.simsportsglobal.com (http://www.simsportsglobal.com)
Leagues--SSG Hockey

[britrock88]

Sure would!

Second.

[Mike Lowe]

As an old OOTP commish myself (the old German Baseball League, good old OOTP 3-6 times ;)) I want online leagues to be a big part of FHM in the future (and not only another feature). I know the functionality is basic so far but we want to advance it based on user feedback over time (I'm long out of online league business due to work so really look forward to see what leagues come up with regarding improving this feature).

Please let me closely follow it so we can work out improvements as quickly as possible.

Thanks, Sebastian! If I could request two changes at this point in time it would be html reports (no idea what to do with these csv files) and a streamlined process for uploads/downloads the way OOTP has it. Perhaps this latter one exists more than I realize, but I think I remember Cole telling me that guys would need to download the file manually, etc.

Either way, it's a really solid game and I know we're looking forward to getting started.

[MizzouRah]

Facegens are still being worked on, but are available for some teams. I've assembled a logos/jerseys/helmets package (compilation of others' work, not my own original) for the guys in our SSG Hockey league.

That link is found on our website under the SSG Hockey tab.

Thanks.. I did find some stuff in the mods forum, but will check yours too. :)

[SlyBelle1]

Patch released...

FHM2 Update #1, Version 2.1.4, Now Released - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/fhm-2-general-discussions/259170-fhm2-update-1-version-2-1-4-now-released.html)

[murrayyyyy]

Thanks, Sebastian! If I could request two changes at this point in time it would be html reports (no idea what to do with these csv files) and a streamlined process for uploads/downloads the way OOTP has it. Perhaps this latter one exists more than I realize, but I think I remember Cole telling me that guys would need to download the file manually, etc.

Either way, it's a really solid game and I know we're looking forward to getting started.

How the hell do you even get CSV reports? I've failed to see a way to print a simple schedule or roster for a dynasty thread.

[SlyBelle1]

How the hell do you even get CSV reports? I've failed to see a way to print a simple schedule or roster for a dynasty thread.

Believe only available under manager options if your playing an online multiplayer game...don't believe it exists for single player.

[JeffR]

Believe only available under manager options if your playing an online multiplayer game...don't believe it exists for single player.

But probably shouldn't be that hard to enable for single-player, we just didn't think of the usefulness for dynasty reports. I'll put it on the wish-list.

[EagleFan]

Took the plunge but not really pleased so far. It's leaning towards ootp but without the good parts. Not a fan of the interface and really would like to be able to watch a game play out but that part is still like watching paint dry.

I almost want to find a way to play Gretzky hockey again. Found that quite entertaining back in the day. :)

[murrayyyyy]

Maybe I don't understand hockey. How does someone score 1 second into a game?

http://www.nabf.us/images/1second.jpg

[murrayyyyy]

Also how the hell do I pick who starts in goal? I picked GM instead of GM Coach to start the game and it lists me as GM and coach on the team screen. Do I have a ghost coach overriding my decisions?

3 times I've changed my goalie on the lines page before the game started and the game simulation had a different goalie. I don't see any spot that I'm missing something like a save lineup button.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Also how the hell do I pick who starts in goal? I picked GM instead of GM Coach to start the game and it lists me as GM and coach on the team screen. Do I have a ghost coach overriding my decisions?

3 times I've changed my goalie on the lines page before the game started and the game simulation had a different goalie. I don't see any spot that I'm missing something like a save lineup button.

Please check out your Manager Options and make sure you have the right ones set to Human or AI. If you start as GM only the Lines option is set to AI (makes sense, you are the GM, not Coach) but you can switch it if you like.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

It is a know bug to us with the way time is set during Faceoffs. We did not want to fiddle with it with the first patch as it happens very rarely (maybe 2-3 times over a season), but it is on our list.

Maybe I don't understand hockey. How does someone score 1 second into a game?

http://www.nabf.us/images/1second.jpg

[Sebastian Palkowski]

We don't want to be OOTP. We tried the OOTP GUI in FHM 2014, it did not work at all. The FHM 2 GUI so far got mostly good feedback. Of course it takes some time to get used to it when coming from another game.

For the in-game mode: different tastes I guess: I never liked 2D/3D as it often destroys the illusion for me with bad scenes. So I always use text commentary in all my manager games, even OOTP and Markus can't understand. ;)

Took the plunge but not really pleased so far. It's leaning towards ootp but without the good parts. Not a fan of the interface and really would like to be able to watch a game play out but that part is still like watching paint dry.

I almost want to find a way to play Gretzky hockey again. Found that quite entertaining back in the day. :)

[Mike Lowe]

Sebastian,

I'm running into some issues adding GMs in our league after league creation. I don't see a way to add new guys to the league as just GMs. This creates an imbalance for the guys who were part of the original league creation being just GMs only.

When I add the new guys they fill both GM and coach spot, and I don't see a way to get around this after the league has already been created.

Is there something we can do to get our league file up and running?

Thank you! We love the game, and are eager to get started!

[murrayyyyy]

Please check out your Manager Options and make sure you have the right ones set to Human or AI. If you start as GM only the Lines option is set to AI (makes sense, you are the GM, not Coach) but you can switch it if you like.

Okay, I was just confused since I didn't see us having a coach when I checked the team personal page, it shows me as the gm and the head coach. I never saw a stage to hire a head coach. Is this something I missed? I started the league with an expansion team from day 1.

[Marmel]

I purchased and was not expecting much. I think my last 2 or 3 OOTP purchases were a total disappointment and I'm pretty much done with that game.

I gave it some good play time this weekend, starting a historical game in 1990. I have to say, it took a season or 2 to really get the interface and the game, but I am very pleasantly surprised with this.

It has some issues. Trading seems easy to fleece the AI. Yes, it is like this in most management sims, but even more so here. Free agency is weird, but I might not be familiar enough with the NHL rules. Once I learned to filter by signable players only, things were much more clear.

Sim time is fantastic. You can knock out several seasons pretty quickly depending on how in depth you want to get after each game. I typically just do a monthly review of my team and only check out a fraction of the box scores.

$40 is steep, but I got it for $30 on sale. That is about the upper limit for what it is worth, but I give it a "Yes" recommendation.

[Bisbo]

For the in-game mode: different tastes I guess: I never liked 2D/3D as it often destroys the illusion for me with bad scenes. So I always use text commentary in all my manager games, even OOTP and Markus can't understand.

I am really enjoying the text broadcast - I have it set for expanded action at normal speed. It's very well done, and can be quite exciting at times. Much better than a rudimentary 2D/3D view, IMO. Now if the 2D/3D was like Football Manager, that might be another story.

[Mike Lowe]

We're really enjoying FHM2 and are starting the preseason schedule tonight.

We still have some teams available and are hoping to fill the league this week.

If anyone's looking for a league that allows for time to really tinker and digest, please join us!

www.simsportsglobal.com

[SlyBelle1]

I see pre orders being accepted....interesting, they have removed online leagues from this version.

NEW FEATURES IN Franchise Hockey Manager 3: •Officially licensed by the NHL®! Teams will have their real logos, insignias, and uniforms along with the Stanley Cup® Championship and post-season awards!
•All-New 'Path To Glory' Mode: A streamlined and more approachable way to play, with improved game and information flow as well as news from around the world that impacts your experience.
•Generate your GM/Coach, assign your skills as you wish, start low and work your way up - or take the helm of your favorite team and take it to the Stanley Cup® Championship!
•New Role-Based Tactical System: Allows the coach to choose from a variety of pre-set tactics to build their team's "system" and then assign players specific roles that fit into that system.
•Much, much more to be announced soon!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Yes, we had to remove them because they never worked well and we had a much different focus for FHM 3 this year. We want to concentrate on the single player, modern game (if you pay for the NHL license, we want to use it as good as possible ;)), day to day game. I know that some people don´t like it but we can´t make everyone happy and with limited resources, we have to make (tough) decisions.

I see pre orders being accepted....interesting, they have removed online leagues from this version.

NEW FEATURES IN Franchise Hockey Manager 3: •Officially licensed by the NHL®! Teams will have their real logos, insignias, and uniforms along with the Stanley Cup® Championship and post-season awards!
•All-New 'Path To Glory' Mode: A streamlined and more approachable way to play, with improved game and information flow as well as news from around the world that impacts your experience.
•Generate your GM/Coach, assign your skills as you wish, start low and work your way up - or take the helm of your favorite team and take it to the Stanley Cup® Championship!
•New Role-Based Tactical System: Allows the coach to choose from a variety of pre-set tactics to build their team's "system" and then assign players specific roles that fit into that system.
•Much, much more to be announced soon!

[SlyBelle1]

With online leagues being removed, why would I buy this over EA's NHL game?

Are they really comparable games? Think they have different focus although I know they both have front office features. Plus if you want to play this type of game on a PC, EA NHL is not an option.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

With online leagues being removed, why would I buy this over EA's NHL game?

If you want a deeper manager experience, then FHM might be for you.

[MizzouRah]

Anyone playing FHM 3?

I've grown tired of EA's NHL series and NHL 17.. but I need my hockey fix!

[Ramzavail]

Franchise Hockey Manager 3 - Save 50%!
Officially Licensed by the NHL®
To celebrate the 2017 Honda NHL® All-Star Game in Los Angeles we have just started our annual mid-season sale - Franchise Hockey Manager 3 is 50% off ($19.99) through February 2. That's right, you can now save $20 on the critically acclaimed hockey strategy game which GamingTrend called "a fantastically crafted title well worthy of praise."


Tempting but I feel like I'm going to be let down.

[MizzouRah]

Yeah.. I might pull the trigger today... :)

[cubboyroy1826]

Went to pick this up for the half off sale and the website still said $19.99 but when I went to checkout the price changed to $39.99, drat. Not sure I want to spend the $40 after the FHM2 wasn't all that great.

[Johnny93g]

Went to pick this up for the half off sale and the website still said $19.99 but when I went to checkout the price changed to $39.99, drat. Not sure I want to spend the $40 after the FHM2 wasn't all that great.

Decided to give this a try this weekend. I'm someone who bought and returned FHM2 as i thought the functionality of the UI was awful. So i went onto steam, and saw the price, for us in Canada was 43 bucks.

Pass.

I understand its a business and it has to generate profit. EHM is 21 bucks though. Can't really see why i would spend double on this game.

[MizzouRah]

75% off until June 1st.. picked it up yesterday $9.99

https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/newsletters/nl0206/

[Young Drachma]

I bit on that deal, but man...that UI is a dumpster fire. It's fine for what it is -- hockey sim yay -- but I can't see spending hours and hours with it. Not enough mods and again, that user interface is hell to navigate.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

[...] Not enough mods [...]

If I might ask: what mods do you miss? I know there are logo packs, jersey packs (both modern and historical), facegen packs (afaik modern and even historical), if I remember right I saw background packs. So what do you think is missing (would be cool to look into in the future).

[...] and again, that user interface is hell to navigate.

I know that everyone has different preferences for GUI´s but we always look to improve our GUI. So if possible, can you tell me what exactly you hate about it and what would improve it for you?

Thanks for any info that might help us to improve the game!

[Mike Lowe]

We have the following open teams in our daily sim (real-time) league. This league is extremely well organized, and is part of a collection of leagues that we run on the exact same daily calendar creating an entire universe of sim leagues.

We are just about caught up to the real NHL schedule, and we're about to start free agency in preparation of the 2019-2020 season--a perfect time to mold your team for when the puck drops in September.

Available Teams (https://simsportsgaming.com/ssg-fhm-hockey-members/)
Rules (https://simsportsgaming.com/ssg-fhm-hockey-rules/)
Application (https://simsportsgaming.com/ssg-fhm-hockey-application/)

We use Discord for all of our league communications, and you'll be able to see the action in our various leagues, including not just our PC sim leagues, but also our H2H console leagues and more.

We'd love to add some more folks from FOFC, so please fill out the application above, and we'll get you connected.

[bhlloy]

Done - this sounds interesting, would love to jump back into an online league (especially hockey, which I don't think I've done in 10+ years)

[Ramzavail]

I couldn't see any reports, do you use real players?

[Mike Lowe]

I couldn't see any reports, do you use real players?

FHM doesn't generate any reports unfortunately, but we do use real players. You can join our Discord from our website, and we can get you connected in there if you're interested.

simsportsgaming.com