Alright Boyz, Here We Go! The FM2008/WWSM2008 First Impressions Thread

[Icy]

Nice, in a couple of days the game will be released in Spain, just on time for the patch.

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

A follow up...

under the playable 4th level (called the Swedish Second Division) is a non-playable 5th level (Swedish 3rd) with 12 x 12-team divisions (!), a non-playable 6th level (Swedish 4th) with 1 divison of about 180 teams, and the Swedish Lower division with 100 or so more teams. Holy crap, does every street in Sweden have a soccer team?

Anyway, do these leagues need to be populated with legit teams in order for the league to be playable?

Yes they do.

Best way to do it is count up all American clubs (MLS, USL1, USL2, PDL & any team listed in "other league"-I think) and then find leagues you want to swap and count their clubs. If Leagues you want to swap with has 80 total clubs in all divisions then make sure you swap 80 clubs otherwise it will not work. This is due to Cup competitions ,etc...

I have found Israeli, Belgium & Slovakian leagues as the best bet for USA Swap, because they have a close # of clubs and still have 2 + divisions of promotion/relagation. I think I had to create 30+ teams for my Belgian league last year & about 10-15 for the Israeli the year before that.

If you have never done it before goto SI's Editors Hideaway forum and search for "Daves League Swap Guide". This will give you a good primer.

[Young Drachma]

The unplayable leagues don't need to have legit teams. Just be aware that over time, some swedish team might end up infecting a major division or something. But you can just edit the other leagues and never have those leagues do anything. Unless you're doing a natural swap.

Since I almost always edit the teams in my leagues, rather than import anything other than the MLS clubs I want, it can be a tedious process to edit the name of every bloody team in the league in the off-chance that they make it up. But it's worth it and makes it feel more "real" as you move forward.

I'm willing to populate some of those teams once you're done, if you get tired...because well, it's a lot of teams. But once it's done, at least it'll be out of the way and a six division league for the US of A would be awesome. No question about it.

[Ramzavail]

Maldini has unknown morale, a cane and an AARP card

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

The unplayable leagues don't need to have legit teams. Just be aware that over time, some swedish team might end up infecting a major division or something. But you can just edit the other leagues and never have those leagues do anything. Unless you're doing a natural swap.

Since I almost always edit the teams in my leagues, rather than import anything other than the MLS clubs I want, it can be a tedious process to edit the name of every bloody team in the league in the off-chance that they make it up. But it's worth it and makes it feel more "real" as you move forward.

I'm willing to populate some of those teams once you're done, if you get tired...because well, it's a lot of teams. But once it's done, at least it'll be out of the way and a six division league for the US of A would be awesome. No question about it.

Is there any way to make those unplayable leagues playable? This all sounds really cool.

[atatange1]

I must be missing something because I have not idea how to add kits and logos. Do you guys know how to do this? I have the Boonty DL if it matters. In previous versions it was easy, but now I am not sure what to do.

Edit: I figured it out. I just had to create a graphics folder in the C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Worldwide Soccer Manager 2008 folder.

[DaddyTorgo]

my copy has not arrived yet, but i always find myself restarting after the first patch, so for the first time i've realized i can avoid the heinous quick-shipping charges

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Is there any way to make those unplayable leagues playable? This all sounds really cool.

No, you can't make the unplayable leagues within a playable league work in the game. You can, however make the top division of a country whose league isn't active, active.

What you do is, essentially swap the TLA for that country. So if you wanted to active the Faroe Islands league, you'd swap their TLA with the one of an active country in the game. But the thing is, that country's league now has to have the same exact number of teams or else, it won't work. I prefer countries with smaller leagues in a scenario like that, say, Scotland or a league with just one playable division.

That way, you aren't editing all night and all day.

But for the Premier League of America, it would be great to have six different divisions, so you could essentially mirror in America what you do with the English leagues over time. That's the idea with taking over Sweden's league to do it.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Bea-Arthurs Hip

Yes they do.

Best way to do it is count up all American clubs (MLS, USL1, USL2, PDL & any team listed in "other league"-I think) and then find leagues you want to swap and count their clubs. If Leagues you want to swap with has 80 total clubs in all divisions then make sure you swap 80 clubs otherwise it will not work. This is due to Cup competitions ,etc...

I have found Israeli, Belgium & Slovakian leagues as the best bet for USA Swap, because they have a close # of clubs and still have 2 + divisions of promotion/relagation. I think I had to create 30+ teams for my Belgian league last year & about 10-15 for the Israeli the year before that.

If you have never done it before goto SI's Editors Hideaway forum and search for "Daves League Swap Guide". This will give you a good primer.

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

The unplayable leagues don't need to have legit teams. Just be aware that over time, some swedish team might end up infecting a major division or something. But you can just edit the other leagues and never have those leagues do anything. Unless you're doing a natural swap.

Since I almost always edit the teams in my leagues, rather than import anything other than the MLS clubs I want, it can be a tedious process to edit the name of every bloody team in the league in the off-chance that they make it up. But it's worth it and makes it feel more "real" as you move forward.

I'm willing to populate some of those teams once you're done, if you get tired...because well, it's a lot of teams. But once it's done, at least it'll be out of the way and a six division league for the US of A would be awesome. No question about it.

Sheesh...ok...no problem.

Looking at the teams that are actually in the unplayable nether regions of Sweden, they're mostly teams by name only, without a nickname, stadium, kit, etc. So it seems it will be an easy task to just change the name to some American city - easy, but long. I'll just pull up a website that has cities listed by population and by state, then point and click for 12 hours.

I've got the teams and everything set for the playable divisions swapped and named already - no detail work done yet but the basics are there.

"Daves League Swap Guide" is printed and pinned nest to my monitor and I've got a laptop running as well with the WWSM07 editor open to the last PLA for reference.

"The 2008 Premier League of America - leaving no stune unterunes and no turn unstoned"

[GoDukes]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

The data editor is there in the DD version, I used it before starting my game.

Man, the game seems to move quite a bit faster than 06 and 07, I could have probably added a few more leagues for my first career.

Also, I love the option to turn off budgets before January, so clubs can't buy two or three new players before the start of the season.

I dont get this can you please explain it a bit?

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by GoDukes

I dont get this can you please explain it a bit?

Since I don't know what part you're referring to...

DD = digital download. There is a pre-game data editor, but I had to look for it in the directory, maybe people got confused since there would normally be a shortcut to the editor in your start menu folder. But yeah, the editor is there and it works.

Or if you meant the other part of my post:

There is an option when starting a new game, down in the bottom right corner of the screen near the options for "use real players" and "hide player attributes" that has to do with the budget, I can't remember exactly what it's called, but what it does it makes it so that all the teams in your game, AI or player controlled, cannot spend any money until the first winter break.

In the demo a few clubs would spend a lot of cash before the season began. Using this new option, you can make it so every team will have the same squad going into September that they do in real life, ensuring that you have accurate rosters for the first few months. Every team will start with a budget of $0, and the budget adjustment screen is grayed out. A welcome addition to the game IMO, one that I didn't even know of until starting my first game.

[Big Fo]

So I'm finding the closing down bug isn't nearly as big a deal if I put the whole team on hard tackling. My team has picked up quite a few yellow cards but no reds yet, so it's been worth the risk so far.

[Qrusher14242]

Originally Posted by Bea-Arthurs Hip

Cringer -

Just a FYI in case you dont know..One of the biggest (in my eyes) bugs is that in the 2nd year and onwards of the SPL, no fixtures are created. Not sure this effects 1st,2nd,3rd division.

I note this because I start every year in Scot 3rd division, with the Rovers . I will either take the 1st season verrry slow in hopes of patch fixing existing games. Or I will just re-start once 1st patch is out.

"Beta" patch out soon per SI's site for all "FM" versions...WWSM to follow after..

wow this sucks. I wanted to be Celtic in the new version, but i guess i'll have to continue my celtic fm2007 career How could they release it with that bug?

i guess they just figure most people dont use the SPL

[Flasch186]

they'll fix it

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

they'll fix it

Are you sure?

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

Did a swap with Israeli leagues and American Leagues as a test. It worked, no crashes or surprises with new editor.

There were a couple of strange things:
1.) USA teams would (could) not offer more then $7500 contracts
2.) Concacaf competitions disappeared from "World" competitions

I thinking about doing a "double swap" this year. USA with N.Ireland & Canada with Ireland.

This will be interesting as each year there is a Cup competition between the domestic league & cup winners of each country and will add a little flavor.

I plan on starting this over the weekend and finishing up before official patch is out.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Bea-Arthurs Hip

Did a swap with Israeli leagues and American Leagues as a test. It worked, no crashes or surprises with new editor.

There were a couple of strange things:
1.) USA teams would (could) not offer more then $7500 contracts
2.) Concacaf competitions disappeared from "World" competitions

I thinking about doing a "double swap" this year. USA with N.Ireland & Canada with Ireland.

This will be interesting as each year there is a Cup competition between the domestic league & cup winners of each country and will add a little flavor.

I plan on starting this over the weekend and finishing up before official patch is out.

Did you make the U.S. teams Canadian first before the swap? I recall that being an issue.

I've finished all the infrastructure around the PLA, now I just got to edit the teams. I'm planning on NOT adding players to all the rosters to save time - the game will generate appropriate players based on team reputation - but the MLS teams will have existing players.

Also, I'm going to cut the reputation of Canada and the PLA down a bit. I like them to be major players on the international scene, but they shouldn't be stealing players from the English Premier League IMO (which was the case last version).

If you guys would like the db file as it stands, I can u/l it to rapidshare...

[Passacaglia]

Did anyone get the game from Amazon yet? I would like to get the hard copy, and I don't mind waiting for a while, since I can't play it until November 6th. But, it sounds like they're having a lot of problems -- would I even get it by then?

[SirFozzie]

sounds like 10/30 release now for amazon.

[Passacaglia]

fangs

[gi]

Mine shipped from Amazon yesterday, tracking says it will be here tomorrow.

[Big Fo]

The beta patch has been released for the boxed PC version of FM08, SI's website says early next week for WWSM PC, Mac, or digital download versions.

Anyone posting the change list had their posts edited by the mods, so no info on what has been changed.

[Toddzilla]

Is there a list of the issues resolved by the patch?

Pouring boiling coffee on my bare crotch > Searching the SI forums.

[SirFozzie]

No beta patch list available. They want to be sure that the patch fixes the issues.

[Flasch186]

Hey, is there a way to increase the resolution of the game in Full screen. It is defaulting to a not so great resolution compared to what it could be or that of something like Civ4?

[twothree]

Here is the change list for the beta patch for FM08. (It took a while, but I was finally able to get to their forums and download the beta patch, and install it on my copy of FM08.) If a SI representative does not want this listed here, then a forum mod can feel free to edit this post and delete the change list.

Football Manager 2008 v8.0.1 (Build 112458)
-------------------------------------------

General
=======
- Supporter spokesperson's nationalities match up to their city of birth.
- Team-mates will no longer dislike each other for seemingly no reason.
- Reduced incidents of players having "Worried by lack of discipline" unhappiness.
- Players more likely to be unhappy at being harshly fined.
- News is now sent to the human if a reserve team friendly he has arranged is rejected.
- Supporter Spokespersons don't respond to job adverts anymore.
- 'Reject all offers' holiday instruction now works for draft pick transfer offers.
- Players do not gain a year of nation eligibility if they are returned from loan early.
- Players do not gain extra days of nation eligibility to their main team’s nation when returning from loan.
- Slight limits on morale of players who haven’t been at clubs very long.
- Non-EU Under 18 players can now move within EU countries if they are already in a EU country.
- Improved the code which chooses ethnicity of players with dual nationalities.
- Lowered abilities of virtual players in reserve teams.
- Stopped exploit which allowed multiple feeder clubs to be gained at once.
- Fixed "Ends with" Favourites filter on player staff search returning erroneous results.
- Stop recently retired players becoming part of consortiums in club takeovers at too young an age.
- Can now fine players for unprofessional behaviour / sending off again within the period of their last fine.
- Stopped cheat that allowed multiple feeder clubs to be gained at one time.
- For fixtures at neutral venues, sometimes the match odds would be swapped between the 2 teams.
- Made morale slightly lower for attacking players who are on a goal drought.
- Fixed the issue of too many players with just first name as common name (for example Portugal).
- Adjusted the non-playing attribute distribution for newgen non-players.
- Adjusted the starting ability and development of non-playing staff.
- Stopped players from occasionally disliking themselves.
- Tweaked Feeder Clubs selection (including reducing Irish feeders for British teams).
- Fixed expansions to stadium capacity being reverted when loading a saved game.
- Fixed seating expansions for non-professinal clubs when requested by the league

Finances
========
- Adjusted transfer income percentages for financially troubled clubs.
- Enhanced the chances of a takeover when club is bankrupt for a long period.
- Fixed amateur team not to pay wages to managers.
- Fixed new sponsorship news item in some cases showing £0 instead of the real value.
- Fixed support for "remaining wage budget" imported from the database at the start.
- Fixed support for custom stadium rental fees set in the database at the start.
- Fixed sponsorships that had no value set in database (fixes saved games at the first monthly financial update).
- Fixed start and end dates for starting loans read from the database.
- Fixed club transfer and wage budget given to a new hired manager to match the ones in the news.
- Fixed transfer budget update with season expectation news when no multiple expectations to choose.
- Prevented human users from exploiting the budget adjustments and season expectations to boost budgets excessively.
- Tuned Argentinean ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Australian ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Brazilian ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Colombian ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Danish general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned French general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned German general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Italian general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Mexican ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Norwegian ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Peruvian ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Russian ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tuned Uruguayan ticket prices and general finances for a better balance.
- Tweaked feeder club payments for smaller clubs and poorer nations.

Team Selection
==============
- Fixed issue regarding Gk's being picked outfield.
- Given staff members greater flexibility when rating players for squad selections / teams.

Crashes
=======
- Fixed crash if user retires whilst on the Jobs screen.
- Fixed possible crash when user accepted job offers from other teams.

Database
========
- Fixed a problem with Finnish weather, it doesn't always rain now.

User Interface
==============
- Make available for reserves menu item was out of line with other options.
- The "Change User" menu would disappear in hot seat mode until the game was continued.
- Fixed bug where match split view panels would sometimes both default to Pitch view.
- Fixed some continue button text issues when a human picks 2 teams for matches at the same time.
- If a team scores more than 9 goals in a match, the match overview section no longer shows ".." for the goals.
- You can now view the knowledge sub-section of the scouting panel for teams without scouts
- Fixed bug where the match screen split view could show 2 pitch panels at the same time.
- Future squad selection rules which will apply to a team are now shown (greyed) on the team screen.
- Stopped situation where monthly calendar news would appear even if there were no important dates to be shown.
- Message saying a player or players couldn't be selected due to travelling to be with 'their squads' now references international squads.
- Draft allocations panel has now been moved of the Transfers panel on the team screen.
- Best Eleven screen remembers view when leaving the screen and returning.
- Fixed a bug in the squad selection rules error message. The list of invalid players was not getting displayed in full.
- Added status icon "PR" (Player Reaction) for player reacting to collective bonus decisions.
- Longest time at club record for a manager now shows correctly if the manager has been without a club for a longer time.
- Assistant manager team talk button is now hidden if a team does not have an assistant manager.
- Rows no longer disappear from the Award winners screen when players retire.
- Fixed bug where post match details would not appear properly sometimes when navigating away from the screen and returning.
- Portuguese players now get shown as being eligible to gain Brazilian nationality.
- Days to qualify for nationality do not increase for a country the player is not currently in.
- Fixed a bug where sometimes a cup draw would take place before the user had a chance to draw it themselves.
- Coach report screen remembers which coach you were using to get reports when moving between players.
- Fixed bug where user could make a sub during a penalty shootout.
- Fixed a problem where the user could attempt to create a new folder with illegal filename characters.
- When user changes the "Show Highlights In" setting in a match when a pitch is already showing, the new pitch panel will now appear properly.
- Fixed problem with continue game timeouts kicking in before the full time team talk has been given.
- Fixed problem that could cause new skins to not show up on the preferences screen.
- Fixed a problem with the injury duration description on the player profile screen for certain pre-game injuries.
- Players who gave gained a second nationality but remain in that nation no longer have an entry staying on their Days to Gain nationality panel.
- Added Tight Marking to view menu in the in-match tactics.
- Can no longer reject transfers that meet minimum fee release clauses via the transfer centre.
- Fixed a few club kit colours.
- Fixed a bug where the gk player instructions were getting replaced by an outfield players if a certain series of steps was carried out on the tactics screen.
- If no highlight is playing, the pitch section on the match screen is disabled.
- Next match button on match screen when viewing highlights now works correctly each time.
- Highlighted profile on team and player competition stats overview screen now uses stats for that competition not overall stats.
- When viewing highlights of a past match, the pitch action is now smoother.
- Changing "Closing Down" descriptions on player and team instruction panels.
- Updated horizontal scrollbars visible on Competition Tree view.
- Man of the Match and Injuries are now highlighted better on Match Overview and Match Stats sections.
- Fixed a rare problem where match screen would sometimes not allow users to go back into tactics after making a change.
- Fixed bug where coming out of tactics sometimes wasn't returning the user back to full match highlight mode properly.
- Improved star graphics to make it easier to tell the difference between each level.
- When viewing scout reports for specific assignments it now remembers the assignment when returning back from looking at a player profile.

Media
=====
- Golden Boot news is now sent directly to the human if one of his players is in the top three.
- Monthly player award news uses the correct stadium name if the player moved clubs at the end of the month.
- Award voting reminder news now states the correct voting deadline for Final Reminders.
- Total transfer spending record news does not repeat when monthly installment payments are made.
- Ensured correct stadium is used when news item mentions next fixture in managerial landmark news e.g 1000th game in charge.
- Can no longer appeal ban for two yellow card sendings off.
- Lowered threshold for judging cup shocks.
- Fixed scout next opposition "Comment on Dangerman" button taking you to the interaction screen with no dangerman comments just before the match.

Coach Reports
=============
- Fixed issue where you would receive a news item stating that a player had progressed well and then the coaches wouldn't comment on his progression in the coach report.
- Fixed issue when assistant highly rates virtually the entire team.

Contracts
=========
- Boosted the squad status expectations and wage requests of players involved in big money transfers.
- Put in code to help dissuade staff members from moving clubs shortly after signing a new contract.
- Players signed through a waiver draft do not sometimes reject contracts now.

International Management
========================
- Fixed news item saying player was left out of international fold when he is was injured and unable to be called up anyway.
- Fixed line saying players coaxed out of retirement were left out of previous squad.
- Fixed international manager attending the wrong game when a club had another match before the game that he elected to go and watch.
- Main, U21, U19 text on national pool now hyperlinks to the respective squads.
- National supporter spokespersons now have cities of birth.
- Ensure that, in the run-up to an international match, players for clubs who have fixtures re-arranged for the mid-week don't travel until after that match.
- Stop human international teams organising friendlies against teams who don't currently have a team enabled in the same age group. e.g. Bermuda U20s vs England U20s at game start date.
- Fixed message relating to player's other nationality when user asks dual nationality player to play more first team football to gain place.
- Stopped pre-signed players (who are too young to play for a club side e.g. Alexander Pato) being prevented from playing for an international team.

Scouting
========
- Ensure that the min asking price is going to round greater than 0 before commenting on the likely asking price.
- Ensured scout's with high judging potential aren't as accurate when rating players for potential.
- Fixed issue when changing a coach's role to scout and he couldn't perform assignments.

Transfers
=========
- Stopped AI teams attempting to re-new loans when the player is unable to go on-loan to them because of the teams division loan rules.
- Players who have incorrect club join dates set in the database are now allowed to go on loan from Premier League teams.

Awards
============
- Greek Club of the Year award is now given.
- Cypriots are no longer considered Foreign in Greek awards.
- Stripped out starting Award History's in games started without real players.
- Fixed problem where if all your own players dominate an award shortlist you would get stuck on the voting screen.

Competitions
============
- Stopped games been incorrectly called off due to international call-ups.
- Fixed clash between Champions League and South American World Cup qualifiers in 2009.
- Adjusted attendances for small clubs playing in cup competitions.
- Adjusted long term effects of fan days.
- Adjusted the attendances in intra-squad friendlies down severely.

International
=============
- Austria and Switzerland now play their group matches in their own country for Euro 2008.
- Denmark now play their home matches at NRGi Park until the 14th Oct 2007.

Argentina
=========
- Argentine Second Division History now recorded.

Australia
=========
- Improved teams Australian teams play in friendlies.
- Fixed conflicting squad restriction in 2014 and beyond.

Belgium
=======
- Stopped duplicate transfer round-up news item appearing for Belgian clubs.
- Belgian Cup Final is played at the Stade Roi Baudouin.
- Correct Second Division Playoff schedule is now used (all teams play each other home and away).
- 2nd to 5th position are used instead of the Period winners in the Second Division Playoff stage.

Brazil
======
- Brazilian National Third Division history is now updated correctly.
- Added the Brazilian National First Division prize money.

Chile
=====
- Added correct transfer windows.

Czech Rep
=========
- Fixed promoted and relegated teams not matching up between the First and Second Division when a relegation position play-off is needed.

Denmark
=======
- Added 6 points deduction for Boldklubben Frem 1886.
- Saturday Premier Division game is now shown on TV.

Holland
=======
- Fixed some news item problems to do with the Dutch Premier Division playoffs.
- Fixed fixtures clashing with European fixtures.

England
=======
- Better TV game selection for FA Cup games.
- Mid-week games now kick-off at 1945.
- Updated the Setanta Shield prize money.
- FA Trophy Final is now televised.
- Johnstone Paint Trophy games now have games shown on TV.

Europe
======
- Royal League now only gets referees from the participating countries.
- Royal League matches now cannot be refereed by an official from the same country as one of the teams.
- The two legs of the later cup rounds do not both get played on the same day of the week.
- Champions Cup group stage draw can now be viewed.
- Changed date of Euro Cup group stage draw.
- Fixed Champions League group stage win/draw prize money.
- Royal League now gets played in 2007 if the game starts in early 2008.

Hong Kong
=========
- Fixed user being able to sign more than 12 foreigners in Hong Kong First Division.
- Hong Kong First Division Reserve matches played in neutral stadiums of 4,000 or less.

Hungary
=======
- Fixed Hungarian League Cup winners not appearing in competition history.

Indonesia
=========
- Contract end dates are now set as 31st October.

Israel
======
- Squad numbers now used in all competitions.
- 5 foreign players can now start in a Israeli Cup match.

Italy
=====
- Added this years Italian Serie C Cup teams.
- Applied -1 points deduction to 3 Serie C2 teams.
- Serie A teams that have their match postponed to Sunday should be playing at 3pm not 4pm.

Malaysia
========
- Fixed foreign player rules for some competitions.

Mexico
======
- Fixed bug where teams would sometimes get a Mexican First Division title added to their achievements for winning the playoff stage.

Norway
======
- Added correct squad selection rules for the Norwegian Premier and First Division.
- All clubs in Premier and First division get under-soil heating.

Peru
====
- Two teams are now relegated from the Peruvian First Division.

Poland
======
- Cancelled the 10 points deduction applied to Polish Second Division side Odra Opole.

Portugal
========
- First three rounds of the League Cup now use the correct seedings.
- Updated TV dates and times for the Portuguese top two divisions.

Scotland
========
- Trialists can no longer play in cup games.
- Football League match day squads can only contain 2 trialists.
- Fixtures are now generated for the second season in all Scottish leagues.

Singapore
=========
- Fixed Singaporean League Cup record not being written in competition history.
- Add Random draws for Singapore Cup and Singaporean League Cup.
- Change of transfer windows for Singaporean League.
- U18 league matches now played at neutral stadiums with 1500 or less capacity.
- Singapore U18 & U17 team cannot sign foreign players.

South America
=============
- Teams from the same nation play against each other in the Copa Sudamericana Semi Final stage.
- Uruguayan teams now seeded correctly in the Copa Libertadores.
- South American Continental Cups now get correct referees for matches.

Spain
=====
- Implemented Cotonou Agreement for Spanish league - players from 79 ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific states) countries no longer considered non-EU.
- Fixed bug where some players were not getting minimum fee release clauses.

Sweden
======
- Pre-season no long starts on 24th December for teams involved in the Royal League.
- Changed the teams which move divisions When game is started in 2008.

United States
=============
- Foreign developmental players do not count towards the wage cap.
- Fixed bug where squad selection rules for certain MLS teams were not showing the correct maximum values at all times.
- Correct 2007 fixtures added.
- Allowed squad numbers up to 99.
- MLS teams can no longer sign foreign players from the PDL before they reach 22 or enter a draft.
- Fixed a problem with the American player rule for Toronto. Some players were being wrongly classified as Americans.
- MLS Rising Stars team is now filled with American players only.
- Players on free transfer with MLS rights have to be traded instead of being approached directly.
- Changed stage names of MLS conference playoffs.
- Virtual players now ask for developmental contracts by default.
- Improved selection of players from a draft. Teams make fewer passes.
- Updated maximum allowed wage $325,000 p/a outside of Designated Players.
- Fixed wrong teams in CONCACAF Champions Cup.
- Toronto foreigners now gain Canadian nationality not American if they stay for enough years.
- Fixed bug which was converting future draft allocations offered in transfers to 6th pick draft allocations.
- Toronto now get Canadian nationality youth players instead of American.

Assets
======

England
-------
- Fixed Marvin Elliot / Marvin Williams picture mix up.

Match Engine Version History
============================

- Fixed bug where the match was treating the JTP North/South finals as the main final itself.
- When an injured player is also sent off, the game won't force the human manager to replace him.

Match v639
==========
- Re-worked marking and closing down to address conflict between the two - defenders should now close down better when appropriate.
- Further improved team reactions to cleared set pieces.
- Reduced delay between foul and whistle.
- But...allowed more advantages when prudent.
- Improved set piece positioning for free kicks and some throws.
- Fixed keeper occasionally kicking off new match period.
- Fixed another example of player kicking off to no-one.
- AI teams now add "back arrow" to def mid position for one MC if needed.
- AI teams a little more reactive to opposition pace when setting D-line.
- Small tweak to ease overcautious AI use of mentality slider occasionally.
- Made players take longer to accelerate all the way to full speed.
- Made blatant offside’s get called a little quicker.
- Enhanced effect on flair of "creative freedom" slider slightly.
- Fixed bug that would stop full back overlapping run prematurely.
- Improved smoothness of dribbling slightly.
- Players now look to run into space with ball better.
- Stopped a few unrealistic examples of poor first touch.
- Allowed players to take more first time shots when appropriate eg rebounds.
- Improved attacking positioning for certain formations that use "side arrows" on attacking midfielders.
- Improved attacking position of central "in hole" player.
- Stopped certain illogical forward runs being made from deep.
- Defenders put tackles/clearances in more appropriately.
- Biased aerial challenges slightly more towards those with higher jumping.
- Slightly less fouls when jumping for the ball.
- Reduced keeper effectiveness on close in shots slightly.
- Low team blend now has more effect on mental attributes.
- Allow more quick free kicks to be taken.
- Improved ball receiver AI slightly.
- Defenders caught wrong side of ball try to get back faster.
- Fixed defenders pushing up to edge of area when should be dealing with ball player.
- Improved player ability to deflect shots/crosses.
- Fixed defenders coming across and heading ball that team mate had covered.
- Tweaked decision making for ball player.
- Improved finishing for "bread and butter" chances.
- Improved accuracy of "bread and butter" passes.
- Further tweak to keeper kicking distance.
- Headers from descending balls now more likely to be looping in nature.
- Improved kicked clearance direction from defenders.
- Improved "subdued" goal celebration where scorer used to move a bit then stop still.
- Ball shadow slightly less pronounced in FM.

Match v640
==========
- Improved referee ability to try to "play the advantage".
- Fixed anomaly causing further problems with kick offs.
- Fixed AI subs when keeper sent off that could cause 2 goalies to be present.
- Another tweak to AI mentality setting.
- Made AI teams try to exploit 3 at the back without wingbacks by getting ball wide more.
- Improved positions at goal kicks.
- Improved corners sent to player lurking outside area.
- Improved use of channels to pass into and move into.
- Made first touch a little more realistic.
- Made players even more willing to run with ball into space when possible.
- And more likely to shoot in good positions.
- And more likely to cross in good positions.
- And more likely to turn before hoofing ball clear when necessary.
- Power shots more likely to go too high.
- Improved player perception of potential interceptions on pass.
- Improved direction of "flick on" headers.
- Improved code that decides whether player should pass ball around and keep possession based on directness, time wasting etc.
- Made "tackle clearances" more realistic in terms of distance and direction.
- Fixed anomaly that allowed potential clearance towards own goal when very close to it.
- Reduced instances of players dribbling ball out of play.
- Keepers more likely to follow distribution instructions.
- Keepers more effective on long shots.
- Fixed rare occurrence of keeper not taking up position for penalty kick.
- Improve defender marking on ball player running at pace with ball.
- Made players less likely to leave tactical shape to mark opponents when ball and player not in danger area.

Match v641
==========
- Fixed crash that occurs after player about to kick off gets a red card.

Match v642
==========
- Made sure free kick isn’t called back after advantage has been played for a sensible amount of time.
- Fix to stop players continuing to swap when option removed in tactical change during match.
- Fixed bug where slight injury isn’t reported when watching match in "commentary only" ( FM only ).
- Improved variety of assistant manager team talk suggestions.
- Made sure offside always called when player shoots for goal and has team mate standing well offside in ball path.
- Slight tweak to player match ratings to give them more range.
- Improved player run with ball AI.
- Improved full backs overlapping, and made their teammates more likely to try to pass to them.
- Further change to closing down code, as initial fix wasn’t quite coded correctly.
- Made players clear ball quicker under real pressure.
- Fixed bug where defenders might pass up obvious interception opportunities.
- Stopped players moving back into onside positions at unrealistically fast speed.
- Reduced pointless off ball runs that just made it harder for team mates.
- Fixed anomaly from pass vs interceptions decision making in 640.

Match v643
==========
- Fixed central defenders sometimes using closing down rather than marking against pace.
- Stopped AI managers playing too negatively when losing due to their sitting back attribute.
- Fixed interceptions not being recorded properly in match stats.
- Made defenders clear ball when under pressure in own area and ball bouncing at awkward height.
- Improved player decisions on when to tackle when up against player running with ball.
- Improved short throw ins slightly in terms of direction and speed.
- Made players a little more willing to shoot first time.

Match v644
==========
- Fixed match score divergence.

Match v645
==========
- Fixed advantage not being always played when fouled player gets clear of his assailant.
- Further tweak to closing down logic, to make it slightly more accurate vs slider descriptions.
- Made players work harder to get back to opponents who have gone beyond them.
- Fixed extremes of players not reacting for ages to ongoing play.
- Tweaked player choice of opponent to mark to include tactical position more.
- Improved direction of facing for defenders marking attackers in open play.
- Fixed bug in defensive line pushing to edge of area for team defending left end of pitch.
- Improved direction of defender who is chasing down attacker who is running with ball and has got ahead of him.
- Slight improvements to players decisions on whether to clear ball under pressure.
- Tweaked up pass accuracy a bit, especially when under no pressure.
- Made lesser players limit pace on pass to increase accuracy ( subject to decisions test ).
- Changed pass risk assessment to reflect mentality setting and flair a little more.
- Less hoofs up field to no-one when under no pressure, unless time wasting.
- Made players cross more willingly and also earlier when possible depending on instructions.
- More shots when in obvious good positions.
- Players with decent decision making less likely to dribble into trouble.
- Players more likely to get ball onto best foot.
- Improved first touch a little.
- Fixed bug where player sometimes moves really slowly with ball for ages.
- Made it harder to cut back ball dramatically when running down wing at pace.
- Improved logic of bias towards pass focus instruction when assessing passes.
- Improved off ball movement slightly.
- Stopped target men moving into channel so often when getting long balls to head.
- Players come to loose balls more aggressively, and try to intercept earlier in own danger zone.
- Attacking players also more likely to follow up on shots.
- Made keepers less likely to let ball go narrowly wide of post, unless extreme time wasting.
- Improved direction of keeper kicking.
- Less fouls when going for headers.
- Further tweak to make more early shots when under pressure or in good position.
- Made some headers on goal slightly less powerful.
- Stopped first time shots coming in from ridiculous positions.
- Made players come shorter at throws when thrower struggling for options.
- When player is selected to come to collect from keeper he comes deeper.
- Stopped one man walls on free kicks taken by keeper in deep position.
- Fixed possibility of play getting stuck when player with ball goes down injured.
- Tweaked player ratings back halfway towards pre v642 levels.

Match v646
==========
- Reduced shot accuracy slightly.
- Stopped players dropping deep to mark opponents instead of holding defensive line for an easy offside.
- Fixed bug where player may not react to short pass from keeper.
- Reduced players dallying on ball when being closed down.
- Made keepers more likely to clear lines from back passes.
- Players get back to kick off position quicker after celebrating goal.

Match v647
==========
- Assistant managers now always give a team talk recommendation when asked.
- AI now take comebacks from 2 or 3 down into account when deciding team talks.
- Players also take comebacks into account when reacting to team talks.
- Stopped centre halves getting dragged out of position too easily when NOT first man behind ball.
- Slight reduction on lengths of goal kicks.
- Keepers now more willing to come to collect such long balls into their own area.
- Further improved defender direction facing when marking non ball player.
- Fixed issue with defenders dithering over whether to continue marking player with ball.
- Further fix re confusion between closing down ball player and marking him from a strategic position.
- Fixed further instance of players taking ridiculous first time shots.
- Fixed rare occurrence of players controlling ball and moving a few yards with it stuck to their foot.
- Fixed bug where player who wins aerial challenge always recovers quicker than the player who lost out.
- Fixed bug where defenders would occasionally get skinned by opponent due to problem in code rather than lack of ability.
- Fixed bug where keepers occasionally miss saves for no reason.
- Tweaked number of shots going over bar.

Match v648
==========
- Fixed bug where assistant team talk suggestions may be illogical after a win


Data Editor
===========
- Updated award editing to support new award fields.
- Fixed problem with cursor in number fields on Mac.

[Passacaglia]

Whenever I see these huge lists of fixes, it makes me think that I'm not getting as much out of this game as I should.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Did you make the U.S. teams Canadian first before the swap? I recall that being an issue.

I've finished all the infrastructure around the PLA, now I just got to edit the teams. I'm planning on NOT adding players to all the rosters to save time - the game will generate appropriate players based on team reputation - but the MLS teams will have existing players.

Also, I'm going to cut the reputation of Canada and the PLA down a bit. I like them to be major players on the international scene, but they shouldn't be stealing players from the English Premier League IMO (which was the case last version).

If you guys would like the db file as it stands, I can u/l it to rapidshare...

That'd be cool. I'm excited about the PLA. So whenever, I'd like it. Woo.

[Celeval]

- Fixed bug where keepers occasionally miss saves for no reason.

Paul Robinson will be glad to hear about this one.

[dacman]

2 big ones I don't see:
-- Captain/Vice-Captain selection -- several problems (not changing in news item, defaulting to others when captain transferred, changing match captain to team captian when he's subbed on, but match captain still on pitch (a FM07 holdover))
-- Supporter/Board Expectations -- unrealistic board/supporter reactions (appears to be not accounting for promotion)

[cubboyroy1826]

Okay guys for the FM/WWSM ignorant what is PLA?

[TazFTW]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Did anyone get the game from Amazon yet? I would like to get the hard copy, and I don't mind waiting for a while, since I can't play it until November 6th. But, it sounds like they're having a lot of problems -- would I even get it by then?

Got the "it's been shipped" notice today, so I expect it'll get here Monday or Tuesday.

[GoDukes]

Mine shipped from Go Gamer apparently on Monday. I live 50 miles from Lake Forest, CA, and it still is not here.

[Anguscl]

Mine was shipped from GoGamer on Monday as well, and I got it today in Boston.

[GoDukes]

Originally Posted by Anguscl

Mine was shipped from GoGamer on Monday as well, and I got it today in Boston.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay guys for the FM/WWSM ignorant what is PLA?

Premier League of America

Basically, an FM/WWSM db that takes over the premier league of some country, changed the nation to Canada so you can operate with American teams in a non-wage capped structure that doesn't suck.

So if you wanted to do what you can do in England or some other country, but with American teams..the PLA makes that happen. I created it using Bea Arthur's Hip db last year, then Toddzilla improved on it and there you have it. Last year, it used Belgium, but this year...Todd is doing the thing and it'll be based off of Sweden since it has like six playable divisions or something.

So Galesburg, Illinois can have a team and dream of major league soccer stardom. Or something.

Woo.

[Big Fo]

Americans won't count as non-EU players? I suppose that's editable. Belgium has no such restrictions, I always liked managing there and in the Netherlands for that reason.

[GoDukes]

Originally Posted by Anguscl

Mine was shipped from GoGamer on Monday as well, and I got it today in Boston.

Now I find out that their "Dirt Cheap" option is MEDIA MAIL instead of First Class. Why? I have no idea.

Wonder why they couldn't just appropriately title their Shipping Options.

[astrosfan64]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Did you make the U.S. teams Canadian first before the swap? I recall that being an issue.

I've finished all the infrastructure around the PLA, now I just got to edit the teams. I'm planning on NOT adding players to all the rosters to save time - the game will generate appropriate players based on team reputation - but the MLS teams will have existing players.

Also, I'm going to cut the reputation of Canada and the PLA down a bit. I like them to be major players on the international scene, but they shouldn't be stealing players from the English Premier League IMO (which was the case last version).

If you guys would like the db file as it stands, I can u/l it to rapidshare...

What is the link of the upload.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Americans won't count as non-EU players? I suppose that's editable. Belgium has no such restrictions, I always liked managing there and in the Netherlands for that reason.

Yeah - you can edit the EU-ness of a country in the db, so with the PLA, Americans (and Canadians) will count as EU players.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Premier League of America

Basically, an FM/WWSM db that takes over the premier league of some country, changed the nation to Canada so you can operate with American teams in a non-wage capped structure that doesn't suck.

So if you wanted to do what you can do in England or some other country, but with American teams..the PLA makes that happen. I created it using Bea Arthur's Hip db last year, then Toddzilla improved on it and there you have it. Last year, it used Belgium, but this year...Todd is doing the thing and it'll be based off of Sweden since it has like six playable divisions or something.

So Galesburg, Illinois can have a team and dream of major league soccer stardom. Or something.

Woo.

Originally Posted by astrosfan64

What is the link of the upload.

I haven't uploaded it yet - I made some significant progress this afternoon, based on my new employment status () - so I'll wait until I get all my edits complete before uploading it. I suppose I should test is as well, but that may delay it for a while - I'll leave it up to you guys

PLA Progress:
Completed updating all competitions
Completed updating all awards and added MVP and Team awards for 2nd and 3rd levels.
Level 1 - Premier League of America - 14 teams - COMPLETE
Level 2 - American Chamionship - 16 teams - COMPLETE
Level 3 - Division 1, American Conference - 14 teams - COMPLETE
Level 3 - Division 1, National Conference - 14 teams - COMPLETE
Level 4 - Division 2 North East - 12 teams - to do
Level 4 - Division 2 Mid Atlantic - 12 teams - to do
Level 4 - Division 2 South East - 12 teams - to do
Level 4 - Division 2 Great Lakes - 12 teams - to do
Level 4 - Division 2 Mid West - 12 teams - to do
Level 4 - Division 2 Pacific Coast - 12 teams - to do
Level 5 - Division 3 x 11 non-playable groups x 12 teams - to do (city and nickname only)
Level 6 - Division 4 x 150 teams - to do (city and nickname only)
Level 7 - A Lower League - fuck it, Swedish names will have to do

FWIW, in order to make the teams somewhat legit I've got to

• Pick a city relative to the level of play
• Choose a creative nickname
• Set the reputation
• Change the country to Canada (acting as Sweden with TLA "SWE")
• Choose a stadium in the proper city - or create one if necessary
• Adjust attendace as appropriate
• Adjust finances as appropriate, including ticket prices
• Select the competition (i.e. level and division)
• Choose a last-years standings (for cup draws, etc)
• Create nifty uniforms (Maximum Customizability!)

All of which has to be done relatively accurately for the playable leagues - the unplayable leagues just need a city and team name, since so few of them will see the playable side, and if so only for a season or two tops.

[DaddyTorgo]

just got the email saying that mine has shipped. yayyy!!!

[Big Fo]

Seven straight wins after I created my 4-2-3-1 formation. 4-4-2 is so passe anyhow. Rooney and Anderson are dominating but I haven't gotten Ronaldo to hit top form yet.

Reading and Newcastle are still in the top four at Christmas, Liverpool are down in 10th

Spurs sacked Martin Jol and Louis Saha can't stay healthy. Quite realistic.

[cubboyroy1826]

Thanks for explanation Dark Cloud and the elaboration Todd. Sounds like a cool idea.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Whenever I see these huge lists of fixes, it makes me think that I'm not getting as much out of this game as I should.

Most fixes are quite minor - however we try to get everything right and don't like leaving minor flaws in our games if they can be rectified (and we tend to list everything thats fixed as the smallest problems can be 'serious' in someones eyes).

[Neuqua]

Mine shipped this morning, should get it around Halloween.

Woot!

[Coffee Warlord]

Mine arrives today. Yay!

Notts County shall return to glory.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Whenever I see these huge lists of fixes, it makes me think that I'm not getting as much out of this game as I should.

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Most fixes are quite minor - however we try to get everything right and don't like leaving minor flaws in our games if they can be rectified (and we tend to list everything thats fixed as the smallest problems can be 'serious' in someones eyes).

I'd also like to point out that sometimes in software development - especially really big projects - the list of "bugs" is sometimes in the hundreds and are for the most part small things that technically affect game play but are very very minor (tweaks, small changes). So when the first patch comes out, which often begins even before the final release, the developers have been working on knocking down the list, picking an area of the game or a section of code where they can go in an fix a handful of bugs at once. That's why the list looks so huge. Of that entire list, how many are real showstoppers? 5-7 tops?

[Coffee Warlord]

Hey, is there a direct link for the beta patch someone can post?

The SI site is painfully slow at the moment.

edit: Nevermind. Got to it.

double edit: Son of a bitch. Doesn't work on WWSM anyway. *mutters something about should have spent the money on the non red-headed stepchild version*

[gi]

Fairly biting review:

hxxp://www.hookedgamers.com/articles/review/362/football_manager_2008/1