Grr, if I had known that it was a dual boxed/DD patch, I would've ordered the download tonight. Ah, well. I'm going bowling tonight anyway. I'll just have to play the game when I get home tomorrow.

Don't let go of the remote, Pumpy!

Is the game available via Digital Download yet? If so, where can I dl it from?

It is available for DD, through SI Games's website.

Okay, those weren't official so, y'know, if you download and use them, I will be forced to notify Dan Wassen and call you a pirate.

Just a warning, is all.

Eep! Not Wii bowling! :)

I wouldn't get too excited yet. There are 2 big bugs that have come up since the patch that have me thinking about waiting to starting a serious game until the next patch.

Players being dropped from team when contract extension is offered in last year of contract.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/for...2/m/4142004972

Paying double transfer fee for players

http://community.sigames.com/eve/for...2/m/8002076972

:(

So I guess I should just re-install with 7.0, huh? Is there a way I can roll-back w/o doing that?

I guess I also should have mentioned that there is a post over at the SI board that acknowledges the "player dropped after contract offer bug" and the word is that they hope to have a patch early next week. However, no mention is made about the double transfer fee issue.

I remain hopeful that it won't take another month and some change to get these issues fixed.

But I am VERY bummed that I can't spend the weekend getting into the game in ernest like I had planned yesterday.

Whoops, well, now that these other two bugs have been mentioned, I guess I'll just do something else this weekend.

Here's a workaround until they get the first one fixed. I usually offer what they want anyway, so this one isn't affecting me at all.

Workaround
In short if you offer the player exactly what he wants and accepts then this bug will not occur.

In response to offering a lower weekly wage than he is currently on, I would advise against this until the new patch is out.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/for...1/m/8492066972

Judging from some of the comments from SI, it looks like the "double transfer fee" thing may be related to people using a crack on the game. It's mentioned in the same thread that MikeVick7 just referenced. If this is indeed true, I won't mind starting a career this weekend. :D

Yeah, I noticed that one of the SI guys isn't admitting that the double transfer thing is a bug yet.

FWIW I've been playing the patched game most of today, with a new game, and it seems OK - haven't paid double for anyone, haven't had any problems with the contract renewal (even tried to use it to avoid paying compensation to some staff but to no avail!), Rooney's ban has gone and there are managers whose jobs are on the line, all of which have been reported elsewhere.

I have been generally (actually scratch the word generally from this sentence) disappointed with FM since the change from CM, but the patched version of 07 seems to be a return to form.

From my experience, dive in.

It looks like there are people having this error using the CD.

I have decided not to install the patch until SI release a fix as I don't want to risk any of my saved games.

so i can't sign more than 1 non-EU player per year in Italy and send them to feeder clubs? that's frustrating (although probably accurate)

Anybody know if "View Only" keeps players available for transfers, but just doesn't allow you to actually hold jobs in that nation?

I'm curious whether setting up a league with two playable leagues and several 'view only' leagues would increase my scouts' ability to actually find new players.

from what I understand, celecting a league as "view only" doesn't retain more players. You need to retain the country to make more players available in that country.

Also, I'm not sure I remember if you could pick one country with some playable leagues and some view only leagues within the same country. Always thought the playability was something you assigned to a country, not to specific league within a country. But I may remember wrong on that one...

FM

*laughs* 2011-12 Champions League has hit the Semi-Final stage.

Newcastle-Chelsea
Arsenal-ManYoo

Yes, the four English teams in the draw all made it to the semifinal stage

Two of the teams left in the FA Cup are amongst those four

ManYoo-Charlton
Everton-Chelsea

and with 5-6 games to play, here's the EPL Standings

Chelsea (33) 68 Points
Arsenal (32) 68 Points
ManYoo (32) 65 Points
Newcastle (33) 65 Points.

Think the top four are dominating this year?

I bet at least one of those teams didn't even win their own conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's too bad. I really had high hopes for this game, but it's obviously broken beyond all hope. :D

I always cringe when all 4 english teams make the semis in the Champions League, cause it happens...a lot.

Hooooleee shit.

In the ManYoo-Arsenal CL Semifinal, Arsenal were the much better team in the first leg, and won 2-0. So for the 2nd leg at Old Trafford, ManYoo were pretty much doomed.

A) They had to win 2-0 to force Extra Time/Penalties
B) Win by three clear goals or more to advance

Anything else would not be enough, and considering we (*) were playing the best goalie in the game (Igor Akinfeev, who Arsenal bought for 26.5 Million Pounds this year), that would be a tall task.

We got a first half goal from Wayne Rooney, but it was still 2-1 on aggregate entering the 2nd half, and we would need THREE goals if Arsenal scored again.

Minute 51: Rooney hits a 30 yard chip over the backpedaling Akinfeev to tie things up!

Minute 62: Lukas Podolski in a scramble in front of the net, knocks in a rebound! 3-2, Man Yoo! (of course, this still meant that if Arsenal scored, they would lead on the away goal)

Minute 88: Arsenal keep pressing, and on a counter attack/break by ManYoo, Marc-Andre Kruska scores to make it 4-0 on the night, 4-2 on aggregate, and we're through to the final!

Holy shit.. I was literally dancing in front of the computer screen.

(*) Yes, I'm the Evil Guy in charge of Man Yoo, but I didn't start there, I moved there last year after 4 1/2 seasons in charge of Tottenham, and I'm not sure they're not still burning me in effigy there :D

Foz was telling me he thinks it happens when some of the other leagues are non-playable...that the English teams end up building up more talented squads than do sides in leagues that end up with no real result, and so that's why the English teams are more frequently successful.

Wonder how true that is.

it's not the case in my game, I have something like 50 or so nations and 105 or so leagues (yeah, it runs slow, but I have the net to pass the time)

Ended up winning the CL, which is a good way to finish that save game as I install the patch, and time to start playing MLS :)

I think there definitely is some truth in this. That's why I keep some of the major leagues playing, at least in the backround, like Italy, Germany and Spain just so that they just don't sit there.

Seriously, how the fark can a team be considered the best in Europe when they weren't even the best in their own country? This is a travesty, I tells ya!

Didnt liverpool win the CL last year and finished like 8th in the EPL? They had to create a special rule to allow liverpool into the CL to defend since they didnt qualify for it this year with their leauge ranking in EPL when the won the CL

I don't remember where they finished, but they didn't finish in the Top 4, which is required to play in the CL. That was really a different scenario. I'm just making fun of people who say you have to win your conference in order to win the nation. And I'm not trying to get into an argument about it or anything (because I honestly don't care) -- just having a little fun.

Yeah on my old PC I was pretty much just limited to English teams and loading all players from the 4 other "home" nations and English teams completely dominated.

Thankfully now on my new PC I can play with 10 leagues and I haven't seen the same domination from the English clubs so far at least.

Hey now, they only came in 5th in the league (one outside the qualification spot) two years ago. And yeah, they were given special exemption into last year's tournament to defend ... although they had to start at the earliest qualification rounds.

Going to share a story here, even if it's WSM 06. So I'm in my first season at Vauxhall Motors. We started off in the top half, but have since fallen to 18th. We play a 3-5-2, with my D-line split wide, so I just have one centre back and two fullbacks, then two DMs to help fill in the holes in the middle. Then one MC, my wingers moved up to the AML and AMR spots, and two strikers. Our offense is great, tied for first in goals scored (21 in 13 games), but our defence is crap -- giving up more goals than anyone else in the league by far (26 in 13 games).

Anyway, we're playing minnows Chertsey in the early stages of the FA Trophy. We're up 1-0 in the 89th minute, when my left fullback gets a red card. No big deal, we can hold out for 5 more minutes or so, right? No. They score pretty much immediately. No big deal, we'll just play them at home. However, that guy was my only left defender! So I modify my line, and put everyone in as centre backs. The result? A 1-1 draw, in which we were up a man for probably 100 minutes or so. We lose on penalties 5-3, but that's okay -- we should really focus more on getting promoted, right? Or maybe avoiding relegation.

Anyway, our next match is against Kettering. Our left fullback is back, but our left winger is out -- and again, that's our only left winger! So I switch to a 3-4-3. I move my right winger to a third striker, move my MC up to AMC, move one of my DMs up to MC, bring in another MC to replace my injured winger, then keep one DM in the middle, so my 4 middies are in kind of a narrow diamond formation. Since I don't have two DMs to fill in those gaps in my D-Line, I bring my left defender in to play centre back -- this is really the only guy playing out of position now. It's a home game, but I'm basically just crossing my fingers and hoping we don't get burned too badly. The result? Kettering gets on the board, first then the rest of the scoring is ours -- all 8 goals! Even after sending our striker, Tom Rooney (who rocks, by the way), off for a standing ovation and having a right fullback play forward after the 86th minute, we still put up another goal! Anyway, after the 8-1 victory, our offense is by far the best now, and our 27 goals allowed is only two more than the next worst team. Oh, and we move up the charts, to 17th! Huzzah! Anyway, I've got a bit of a condundrum. That winger was one of my 2 or 3 best players, but we managed to really dominate by focusing our passing through the middle. Any ideas?

I started my first WWSM 07 career last night. Now I have the task of learning my team again. It's always a bit of a chore to get started. Once I'm rolling, I'm fine, but the initial setup of my team always makes me groan a little bit. :)

Is this game really on $24.99 on amazon? And are all patches out for the WWSM as well, or should I go to gamestop and get FM? Also, how will it run on a laptop that is 1.5 ghz (not dual core), with 1.5 gigs of ram?

It'll run fine, I've been going with 16 leagues from 10 countries on a 1.6ghz (not dual core) and 1gig of ram and it's nice and quick.

Wow.......din't realize the price was that reduced. Last version I bought was $50 i believe.

Just had my first red card rescinded on appeal. I love the asst. manager advice on that subject. It's hard to tell from the game highlight whether or not you should appeal.

Why wouldn't you always appeal? I never understood that.

I think it reduces your future chances if the FA thinks you are a crybaby.

Is there a penalty if you appeal and fail?

yes, you could get a touchline ban (ie it takes longer to do tactic changes/substitutions, since you're up in the crowd) for excessive appealing, plus the refs take a dimmer view against your teams.

Also, if you want to complain about a ref's decision in public, MAKE SURE you get it right before complaining, the FA can fine your team for bringing the game into direpute if you spend too much time slamming the refs in public.

how accurate is the AI? 1-1 tie, a goal late was taken away bc they said I was offsides. I know the offsides rule and he was clearly not OFFSIDES. I bitch and moan in a postgame and they touchlined me and said that it appeared that the ref got the call right. I'm like WTF.

Edit: But what I thought was cool, the guy who got the goal taken away was like in his personal tab that something like he liked that I fought for his goal or something or he thought I was right.

Sounds pretty accurate to me. How often does a league admit when their officials mess up?

good point, but dont ban me, geez.

I've wondered about offsides, too. I thought I knew the rule, but I see offsides calls where the guy doesn't look offsides at all -- sometimes it happens when a guy is making a run around midfield, and it's not even a counter attack or anything -- there are TONS of guys in front of him. Am I missing something or does anyone else see this?

I think it's hard to tell with the size of the dots relative to the size of the pitch. So two guys that look even, may not be because the circle is bigger than the actual player size, if you follow me. It makes it hard to tell, I almost never complain about bad offides calls.

I know, managers just can't say anything now without getting into trouble ;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...wn/6140922.stm

Newell faces inquiry on 'sexism'

It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems Mike Newell Luton manager Mike Newell could be in trouble with the Football Association after launching a scathing attack on women officials. Newell was furious that assistant referee Amy Rayner failed to award his side a penalty in the 3-2 loss to QPR. He said: "She shouldn't be here. I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist. This is not park football, so what are women doing here?" The FA has confirmed it will be examining Newell's remarks. A spokesman said: "All we can say at the moment is that we will be investigating when we have discovered what was said." Newell was incensed that Rayner and referee Andy D'Urso failed to award his side a spot-kick when QPR defender Marcus Bignot tangled with Carlos Edwards in the penalty box. "It is tokenism - for the politically-correct idiots," said Newell. "We have a problem in this country with political correctness and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom. "It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women because then we are in trouble? English football needs more Amy Rayners. Referees' chief Neale Barry "It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems."

I think the game gets the offsides call wrong A LOT. It almost happens every game. One of my guys will get a pass and there sometimes will be 2-3 defenders between him and the goal and the player that the pass goes to will just be standing still. It's very weird.

What's the status with the patch? Do those bugs still exist? Is there a fix shortly on the way? Has Pumpy started his career? I don't think I'll start my career until Pumpy does.

I need answers.

I wish I played this game in so much detail that I would even notice that there is a bug, cause I never do. Maybe I do notice some but I just shrug them off cause they are never a big deal to me. I don't know??

WOOO!!

post patch (with the point-penalty down to 9) got Juve promoted to Serie A by winning Serie B the first season, and in my 2nd season finished 4th (by 6 points) in Serie A. My most impactful signings have been my Brazilian wonderkids who I first discovered on '06 (names witheld to protect "spoilers") unless peopel want them. But they are a fantastic midfield duo and I have them locked up. Got myself back into the CL too, so I should be back in the cash nice and quick!

I haven't had a problem with either of the bugs, played a few seasons.

I haven't noticed anything either, but I am just a few months in and haven't tried to resign many of my own players yet.

I've been negotiating and haven't had any problems with the player release bug.

I started mine last night, baby. I hope the bugs don't bite me, but I couldn't wait any longer. :)

Well, I finally got the bug last night after a while of not seeing it. Playing in Scottish League 2, trying to get some of my better young guys to agree to full time deals (part-time just doesn't give enough training time) and my 2 starting wingers had their contracts expire. I'm bidding for them again, but I'm up against some bigger teams so I guess they are gone.

I can understand why SI are turning so many customers off to be honest. EHM release was completely botched and for some people at least is still unplayable past season 5 because a bug that was number 1 on the fix list wasn't fixed (note: this is not my personal experience but a lot of people are reporting this) Now FM which ironically was pretty playable for me pre-patch has a bug that is pretty close to a show stopper.

SI's response to this latest bug - promise a fix by "early this week" which we are still waiting for any update on, and a patronising post on the messageboards talking about a "workaround" for the bug which involves offering all your players exactly what they want and hoping they don't get greedy. Um, thanks Captain Obvious but a part of the fun of a sports sim is being able to negotiate. Plus when I'm managing a lower league team, being able to try and negotiate the lowest possible contract is pretty much a necessity for me.

I've been purchasing the soccer game since CM2 and was somewhat involved in the origins of the EHM freeware series and know Riz is a great guy, and also know that once the games are fully patched they will be the best games on the market so I will keep buying both until kingdom come, but I can definitely understand why a lot of people are getting really pissed off. And that is sad, because ultimately I think SI is going to lose customers next year on both their flagship games because of this crap.

Another big thing they need to look at is the breakaway conversion rate. My strikers, all with good composure are probably converting 1-2 out of every 10 clear 1v1s. If you want to keep the score low, fine, but don't show so many breakaways then.

I am curious has anyone been playing as a National team manager? Has there been any improvement in managing an National team fulltime or is it similar to last year?

This has been around since the very beginning. If I remember rightly, in CM1 pretty much every chance was a breakaway and you would get your player rounding the keeper at least twice every game and 75% of the time he would score, but it sucked when he missed :) Oh, and it seemed like at least 1 goal would be disallowed every game when you needed it least... good times.

Anyway, I thought it was much better this year than the last couple, but it could probably still use some working on. You still don't see too many kind of situations where there are passes worked together around the edge of the area and then a shot from 18 yards, but then I have been playing direct style and with crappy teams so maybe that has something to do with it. Overall I think the 2D is definitely going in the right direction.

I haven't bought this version, but that's bugged since the 2d field showed up - your players constantly have breakaways, but are always caught, by 35 year old defenders who make John Terry look speedy, or start running away from goal for no good reason - finishing skills be damned.

Dola, I should read all previous posts.

The People have responded. Thanks, fellas.

My first FM career in about 2 years is about to begin!

In real-life the conversion rate for one on ones with top strikers is around 35% over the course of a season. This sounds low because you remember the ones they score, not the ones they miss.

This is also the case in the game, although obviously every player can have patches where all shots go in and others where they can't hit a barn door with a banjo.

PS> Cross conversion ratio's are even lower irl - only 30% of crosses from top players (eg. Beckham in his prime) will reach their desired player.

PS> An updated patch is now available if you weren't aware.

Excellent.

Thanks for the info Marc. I went over to your boards, saw the thread by Marc Duffy about a new build but no download link anywhere in the four pages of the thread, at least none that looked legit.

Do I need to redownload the 80mb 7.0.1 patch or is there a smaller quick fix kind of update that you could link to?

Thanks in advance.

FM

Is the WWSM patch updated as well or do we have to wait?

The WWSM patch is available in the downloads section. Mine's going really slowww at the moment though.

Very slow indeed... any idea on whether there is a mirror for the WWSM patch? I know the FM version is on Rapidshare and a couple of other sites, haven't been able to find WWSM (465.exe) anywhere else though.

SON OF A BITCH... connection with the server was reset 53mb in. I guess I will have to hold off until a mirror is up.

That link doesn't work for me for some reason. I'm thinking that the SI server will slow down a bit as the evening wears on so I'll try in an hour or so.

Do you get a window with a "continue to filefront" link? If so, click on that and it'll take you to it.

If not, try this one: http://hosted.filefront.com/cutterschoice and look for the "WSM updated build" in the list toward the bottom.

No, I keep getting one of two error messages, either the file wasn't found on the server or I have more than one connection active (which I don't)

I could probably sort it out with a reboot, but I have other stuff going on.

EDIT - now getting a page cannot be displayed every time. SI is still under 15kb/s also

Thanks for the reply, Marc. So 1/3 or so. I really believe this needs looking at. I don't think it's that accurate and not just for my own team.

OK, two questions, one simple and one not so:

1. Could someone give me a link to the FM 2007 Vaughan Hints & Tips document, if there is one? Which leads into my next question....

2. As a result, undoubtedly, of my stellar management of Scottish part-timers Queen's Park (taken them to the First Division), I've been offered and accepted the job managing the U.S. National Team. Once I took control, however, the learning curve was pretty high. What's with all the staff? Should I hire more staff (i.e. Physio, Scout, Coaches), like I would for a club team? Does it matter? Can I generally only get Americans for this?

Also, how do people handle the National Pool? What is, in fact, the National Pool? How do people go about finding players for the team, etc....

Any hints & tips on being a National Manager would sure be appreciated. :D

One more quick question: when I send my scout out to scout Scotland, he does so, for about a month, and then finishes, but doesn't tell me. So, I have to manually have him restart his search. Is there any way to get him to indefinitely scout a nation/region? Is this, maybe, a cost-saving measure for my small, small club?

When you send him out, the default choice (in the upper right corner) is 1 month. If you change it to "not set" then he goes out until you change his assignment.

There isn't one out yet I'm afraid - I'm planning on getting around to releasing one just as soon as I stop spinning in circles ;)

(currently I'm working on an editor for the PSP version, monitoring the boards for PC patch feedback and assessing if anything new is required and also some other stuff (hush hush ;) ) so I simply haven't had time to finish it off yet.)

Any chance we are going to get an editor for the digital download version also? I never realized how much I used the editor to adjust rosters and view hidden attributes, especially when deciding on a new team. Thanks!!

Yes please. I'm about convinced to buy this game Marc (despite intending to wait till 2008), but a couple of questions. One, will the utilities that the community creates be useable to WWSM users? I recall that some of the save-game editors, to take one example, simply did not work with WWSM 2005. Similarly, is there a "language" option so that I don't get stuck with "soccer" and "field" and what not - ie, for English, as opposed to American? :D

Lastly, is it preferable for you guys (in terms of the cut that you get) that we buy it from SEGA direct download or via the Amazon's of the world?

Also known as playing for f'n Arsenal this year.

No, no. I'm not bitter at ALL. Why would you think THAT?!?

This is actually located in preferences this year. You can choose between American English, English and Spanish.

Utilities/add-ons normally work fine for WSM - when they don't its normally as simple as them looking for an exe called 'FM' instead of WSM and a work-around is normally possible (please note however that most utilities aren't created by SI and therefore the support is somewhat dependant on third-parties).

As far as purchasing goes - either Amazon or DD is great, main thing is to show a real presence in America as that will (hopefully) help us actually get into stores there properly one day.

Wrong version, I know, but does anyone know of an editor for '06? I have some broken players that I need to fix up and, sans editor, I can't.

Ummm, thats not in '07 for some odd reason. At least, not in MY version of WSM '07. Which annoyed me quite a bit, but I think my current system of scouting is working pretty well for me so, oh well.

The downloads on SIgames are always so horrendously slow, damn it gets annoying.

Does anybody have a link to a mirror for the full version of WSM 2007, the links below are only for the patch?

Thanks for the update Marc. I'll wait patiently. :)

Hey Marc - In the last two versions of the game, whenever you make a "quick" tactic change during the game, the crowd noise always drops off. Is this a problem that is currently being looked at?

I thought '06 got an editor at some point.

My version of '07 has one, but it's pretty rudimentary and actually eats more system resources than the game itself does, oddly.

Comes with database editor. I need a save game editor, though. Although there is no roster limit, the game, in fact, kinda breaks around 130. Loaned out players becomes ghosts-like, on neither team yet on both. Only hurt a few times when they were very talented. But we grooved on.

I know that FrogMan and I have brought this up several times since last year, but there's never really been any response at all. I hate to sound nasty, but this seems like a problem that SI doesn't even care to acknowledge, much less attempt to fix.

Yeah, I know this was brought up last year as well. I guess I'm working under the premise of throw enough stuff against the wall... :)

I have v2006 (my first version and I still have plenty to learn) and want to try before making a decision whether to update or maybe wait a year. Is the WWSM try and buy only available for download from SI's site? I was going to try it today but it d'loads at SI's usual speed which will take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours on my broadband connection. Any mirrors out there?

Does it have UK english as a language option?

Also did SI end up going with elicense (please no DR)?

If not, I see it is only $25 from amazon so I could go that way if I decide to buy.

Thanks.

They did when it was first released, not sure if they do anymore.

Yes, it's in preferences this year.

Yes, it's elicense this year.

Not belittling the problem, but I take it you're aware that if you hit pause and then play, the sound comes back?

Hopefully they'll get round to fixing it, but it may take some time - they've only just in the last patch fixed the defensive FK instructions changing themselves, and this was first reported on FM2005.

Thanks for the info.

Oh yeah, fully aware of it. Just getting tired of having to do that everytime.

Thank you! I've been bitching about the defensive FK instructions in the FM 2006 thread forever, and no one else seemed to notice! :D

For those that are looking for something a little different, I've created a European Super League using the Scottish League as the template. I also did this for FM 2005 and 06, but the editor (for some reason) is not quite as sophisticated as those versions were. So, to ensure that teams still had reserve squads, all the teams nationalites have been switched to Scottish. The Champions League and UEFA Cup still exist.

As for what teams went where, I placed them based on current and historical performance, and tried to mix the teams up a bit and include some from some of the smaller Euro Leagues. I test ran it a few times to see if anyone was too dominant or too terrible and switched things accordingly.

I've tinkered with league and club reputations and have given all teams in the euro league some starting cash, and made it even within the leagues. (ex. Premier League teams all have 35 million pounds transfer funds, Platinum all have 20 million, etc.) All teams in the Euro League's debts have also been erased, as the Scottish Leagues payouts aren't very lucrative. In fact you'll notice little things switched around in a lot of places, like feeder clubs, player stats, etc. Nothing major though.

I've ran it on Holiday until 2017 and nothing went wrong so I'm making it available to you. Please let me know of any questions you have in this thread.

To install, extract the db to your C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2007\db folder and select the "EuroLeague2" database when starting a new game. Select the Scottish Leagues and any other league you wish to model and get on with it. Enjoy!

Download+Screenshots