Yeah, I don't get it...

In the past, I thought they put everything in an xml file for the explicit reason to allow the user to customize the interface. The default colors are miserable IMO - attributes in particular. I wonder why the switch to being less-customizable?

I get the same error as the game setups. It shows up three times and then the game freezes and I have to shut it down.

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Edited as there may be a problem with being beta patch compatible before trying read the linked akter thread at SI. Seems some have it working while others do not.
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original post..
I read somewhere on the SI board (can't find it now to link to) that it lets SI use the same files for all versions of FM (ie xbox 360, psp, and pc\ mac) where before they had to make a different set for each version. So a time saver for SI. Also someone else posted it speeds up the load times, though I never saw a confirmation from anyone at SI.

SI will be releasing a "tool" that will allow users to go in and mod these files, though of course it's not ready yet.

FWIW if you play with the files through trial and error it seems you can make the changes now. Akter posted about his colored attribute mod at SI here..

http://community.sigames.com/eve/for...9682085353/p/1

I haven't tried it as it also darkens the new white skin (still white just not as bright) and since I'm happy with that the way it is I'll wait until I can change the attribute color only.

Here's a screen shot the Ackter posted.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5...allic03qc7.jpg

and a link to d'load the skin at sortitoutsi..

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php...le&fileid=4865

Getting a CTD every time I click on coach's report, going to reinstall without the beta patch and see if that fixes it...

That's three different results from four different users. I wonder what is causing the difference in behavior....

Saved game cannot be loaded now, reinstalling the beta patch.....sigh...

Well, clean reinstall with the beta patch fixed it so I can view coach reports without a CTD.....sigh of relief....

I don't know if this explains anything, but I have been having problems with a fan in my computer. I looked into it, and discovered that the fan on my graphics card had failed. It's a PCI slot card, so I took it out and reverted to the graphics controllers that were on my computer. So, I started the game, decided to give the PLA 2008 a go, and now it works. I don't know why, but, oh well.

BOO-YA~! Another satisfied customer :)

I'm in the semis of the Champion's League. I'm first in the EPL with a 9 point cushion with 6 to play. And the board keeps whining about my exit in the league cup. GET. OVER. IT.

dola

Having a blast with the game.

SO Ive heard install the Beta patch and DONT install the Beta patch. I have digital DL version. Is there a definitive yes or no to this installation yet?

Install the one linked on the last page. I think at least 5 people have reported that this one works fine. I've had no problems, although my team is playing much crappier since the patch... might have to try creating a new tactic now that closing down works properly

I can run and load up but I crash to desktop after a while.

Wow, sounds like you're having a lot of fun. :) What team are you?

Arsenal.

I always start out FM with a monster club. (usually Inter or Arsenal) I play out a career with them and then take over the smaller club and try to work my way up. For me, it's equally fun to do it both ways. I know others couldn't play with a big team in a big league. Won in the Semi's. Liverpool in the Final.

troy's gotta be the good guy, of course. :D

how does budget look? how do the kids look?

Just took my Solihull Moors to the playoffs in English Conference North, despite preseason ranking of 19th. Got a huge 5-0 victory in the last game of the regular season to seal the playoff spot. But unfortunately I lost 3-1 in the first leg of the playoffs.

FYI: My team also took a big nose dive after applying the patch. I wonder if I was unwittingly taking advantage of some limitation.

My conference south team took a massive nose dive after I applied the patch. I'm seeing defenders react comically badly to the ball post-patch a lot - in three games I had two goal kicks bounce straight down the pitch past my two center-backs allowing the opposition striker to waltz in and score.

Logically, maybe this could be the effects of the closing-down bug being fixed (players are reacting to the man instead of the ball)? If so, maybe was tweaked a little too far the other way?

Admittedly I was using an adaptation of a pre-patch tactic, so that probably accounts for the drop in form, but I tried tweaking and I still sucked. Even my crappy rec league team defenders play better than my Newport County defenders right now :)

Interested to see if anyone else has the same impression, or if I'm just doing a horrible job with my tactics and sliders.

....sigh.

Lost the majority of my offseason in a crash.

nice touch: once you have been manager long enough (1.5 years?) the board will give you the opportunity to tell them WHAT TYPE of feeder club you want them to look for.

choices:

any type
national loan/first option
commercial link
international loan/first option

the kids all look pretty darned good. To good actually, because Real Madrid, Inter, AC Milan and Barca have come after half my squad during both transfer windows and caused a lot of unhappy players. (sorry, I'm not selling you Rosicky or Hleb or Toure or Fabergas or Clichy. Ugh.

You start out wtih 47 million in the fund. That's for the expectation you get a European place. You can raise it to about 60 if you promise a title contender. I stuck with 47.

For kicks, I wanted to see if I could get Adriano. I could. 35 million of my transfer budget gone, but he's a stud in this version as well. 20 goals for me. Adebayor is pissed. Thinks there is to much competition for place, even thought I'm playing him in 85% of the games he's been that way all season. It's not impacting his performence though, so I really don't care.

I went through a quick fire one year run without purchasing anyone. If you do that, in year two you have about 115 million to purchase players. The catch is the second year seems to make the players REALLY tough to get. (at least for the big names) 72 million for Frey? I don't think so.

Players with the biggest values (toward the end of season one) are Cese at 42 million (dollars, not pounds), Toure 31 million, Van Persie 20 million and Gallas 20 million.

One other note: Alex Ferguson was sacked midway through the EPL season. At the time ManU was in 9th place in the EPL.

On another note, I thought I remember some post about training and how to set it up for those of us who don't want to get that in depth with it. (I think you set it up a certain way and change it a little every month or something) anyone have that laying around somewhere?

Morale is my biggest issue post patch. Mine just took a dive after my first loss of the year with Millwall (I started unbeaten in 13) and I have never been able to get more than half my team above poor/very poor since then, despite fighting for a spot in the promotion playoff goinh into the last week of the Season. I went 11 straight without a win at one point, but you would think after winning 3-4 in a row eveyone would at least be above poor.

I see some strange things by the Defenders too, like stopping right in front of a ball and giving up possession to the opponent. That said, I still don't see closing down working as well as it did in prior versions.

thanks, troy.

i. want. mine.

but i'm fighting with myself to make me wait for patch 2. if i get the game now, i'll start. i have limited willpower with hot chicks or FM.

wow, that sounded dorky.

I'm just waiting on the "real" patch, and been playing the unpatched version. Seems to me like there are fewer horribly annoying issues.

I usually play with Inter as well. When I was in Italy, our investors were also the owners of Inter, so I got a little behind the scenes look at how the stuff actually works. :)

The only problem I've seen from the patch is that I can no longer access the "view recent changes from training" screen.

It has been a few days with no new posts... Are your guys still finding this game better than last years? Still waiting on the first real patch? Having problems with the beta patch? Or just so engrossed in your careers (as FM is known to do) that you haven't come out in a couple of days?

engrossed in the game here :)

currently addicted

busy.......can't talk right now

Still waiting on my copy to arrive. Stupid post office said it was delivered Monday, and I'm still trying to straighten it out.

crashing to desktop every so often in Vista. Not happy.

Trying to get promoted to League one right now...XP, Beta Patch, no major issues right now.

Plugged into the PLA, managing NoVa in the 2nd division NE. NoVa is one of the lower prestige teams in the 2nd division, so the roster is weak and I'm getting pummeled on a regular basis. Fortunately, the board has given me a 4-year plan (!) to get promoted, so I've hopefully got time to work things out. I've got to avoid relegation in that time (bottom 3 in the 14 team division are gone to the unplayable 3rd div.) which would automatically get me sacked, and I'm in 12th.

Neat thing about the PLA I missed earlier - Norway's soccer schedule runs from April to October, so it's active when the other leagues are off, and vice versa, so it makes for nice scoreboard watching :)

Notts County finished their first season in 7th place, losing promotion in the playoffs.

We had plenty of cash to play with in the offseason, and made use of it, bringing in several new faces who have done well. Of huge note is a 20 year old striker we picked up, who managed 2 hattricks in a row, and had 11 goals in 10 games.

...which prompted the press to masturbate all over him, and utterly destroy his confidence for the next match. He botched 2 easy goals and generally just played awful. Kid can't handle the spotlight.

Waiting for the final patch before starting my long term dynasty.

Do you guys set 1 training and never change it during the year, or do you alter the training regime throughout the year?

Also, has anyone figured out how to schedule a Fan Appreciation day?

1. I set-up one for each position in the 07 version and continue to use that. I just don't know enough about it to alter it.

2. I thought I read that the club schedules them randomly.

Got Watford to finish 6th in the Championship my first year, so I'm three games away from going to the Premiership (we started the year very strongly, had a five game losing streak halfway through, and then surged forward again, and then sputtered a bit at t the end).

If we do make it, we will get utterly tooled in the Premiership, but it's worth trying..

Took my Solihull Moors (English Conference North) to 3rd place in season 1, but lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Now 18 games into season 2, we're currently in 6th place.

Solihull have the lowest team value in all of the playable English playable teams and no benfit of a Parent club. Although I've had good success on the pitch, and always been below our wage budget, our team is absolutely bleeding cash. Currently $120K in the hole. The biggest whammer was the $75K payout to the players at the end of season 1, based on our team's success. So in season 2, I set the players bonus to "Low", so now half my team is pissed off about it. Not sure how much it affects their performance, but I suppose it does somewhat.

In season 1, I was able to pick up a couple really good free transfers (GK Russell Payne from the USA who by some miracle got a work permit approved and DR Angel Rangel) but haven't been able to lure even 1 player over to my team on loan.

Just finished a great 2nd year in Serie A. Got Juventus back into UEFA Champions League. Will post results and highlights when I get home. Very proud of this team, which was driven by some very shrewd acquisitions that I made (to whit: Trezeguet became a sub, and Del Piero is gone).

Bit overloaded in some areas and will have to trim some players in the coming season (lots of unrest), but have solid young players developing and am looking forward to reaping some serious cash and being able to be a true transfer-market player again.

i don't like to come up for air when i'm playing FM. It becomes my life.

Havent even started. Seems like a monumental task.

:(

My copy arrived today!

Ordered: October 29
Shipped: November 1
Post Office said it was delivered: November 5
Arrived: November 8

What a long, strange trip it's been.

It's not really. You just type in the name you want for your manager, choose your nationality, the team you want to manage, then click Start. Worked for me. ;)

Okay, so I'm trying to figure out this PLA thing. I have extraced it into the data directory, where the game is located (not inside the WWSM08 directory in My Documents, right?). Now, the readme says to start a new game, then choose the PLA2008 database -- how do I do that?

cant talk now, ive about to survive my first season in the Championship. need to find a few new players in the offseason to make a push (or at least survuve again) for the EPL

As promised...season update (even though I may be the only one who cares):

May 18th 2009

Serie A Final Standings

AC Milan (79)
Roma (78)
Inter (75)
JUVENTUS (71)

Champions League football for me next year!!

Overall for the year (all competitions)

Leading Goalscorers:
Rolando Bianchi (21 in 43 appearances)
Vincenco Iaquinta (20 in 36 appearances)
Trezeguet (10 in 24 appearances)

Key Additions (by DT):
Rolando Bianchi ST: ($33M from Man City)
Andres D'Alessandro AM RLC: ($26M from Zaragoza)
Steve Sidwell MC : ($7.5M from Chelsea)
Cristian Zaccardo D RC: (Free from Palermo)
Fabio Aurelio D L: ($3.8M from Liverpool)
Aythami D M C: (Free from Deportivo)
Felipe D C: ($14M from Udinese)

It's not all smooth-sailing for me though, as I did waste around $17M on Jean Makoun who made 15 appearances over 2 years for me before being sold on to Newcastle for 1/2 that amount, and ATM due to the continued presence of Chiellini (who I should sell on for big bucks), youngster Domenico Criscito is blocked from D L and forced to play D C along with Jorge Andrade (who I could also sell off) so Felipe is blocked from playing D C and is an expensive bench player. I also need to search for a M R to replace the ageing Mauro Camoranesi.

Oops - you need to extract it to *your* data directory - which in this case would be the one under My Documents. Then, when you fire the game up and start a new game, the PLA2008 db should be chooseable.

If not, send me an email ptakers(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll help walk you through it.

Thanks! Of course, I see this once I'm at work! :P I'll try that when I get home.

Thanks for all the work on the PLA, TZ. I am looking forward to checking it out when I get the game here... hopefully today.

When we blow our winning streaks, we do it in spectacular fashion.

Gave my backup keeper a start, he proceeded to "lead" us to a lovely 3-0 defeat to snap our 11 game undefeated run, including 6 straight wins.

cut the dude some slack, he was probably "severely lacking in match practice" :)

Fell just short of the Premiership losing 3-1 in the 2nd leg and 4-3 on aggregate in the semi=final. The vultures struck in the offseason, I lost about 8 players, so I'll definitely have some team building to do.

Only lacking match practice. Not severely, though he coulda fooled me. :)

For good reason. Every time I play him in a league game he gets mauled.

Horrible signing, really. I was scrambling for a keeper in the offseason, and went after 2. He agreed to a contract 24 hours before someone MUCH better (and someone who I didn't think would sign) agreed. So I got stuck with both of them. It's not that he's god awful, he's just....not all that good.

For all the Euros still without the game: check out Play.com, they're running a great € 23,49 deal. I don't know if this is limited or not, the only thing I know is that I wasn't planning on buying, but now I'm tempted...

Seems to be working perfectly now! Watch out for Grand Rapids!

I have no idea what team I want to start with.

I know I want a nation that has at least 3 or 4 divisions to have to fight your way through, with Conference North/South or lower level quality talent in general for the division.

Scottish 3rd Division is the rockinest I tell you.

I know a guy who played a handful of games in the Scottish 3rd Division as his dad was a butcher who provided cheap meat pies to the club on the condition they'd give him a chance.

That's how high level the 3rd division is.

I figure the lowest level division has to be in Northern Ireland. It seems crazy to have three playable leagues for a country so small.

I may have to try the Scottish 3rd level division then. :)

Has anybody found success using some less traditional formations now that we're all beta-patched up? I haven't been experimenting much, just playing 4-4-2 like I almost always do and it's doing pretty well but I'd like to create more scoring opportunities.

I've been using a variation of the 4-1-2-1-2 (442 diamond) tactic I used in '06.

Fast paced, counterattacking game. Focused primary on getting the ball out to the wings and hitting the front 3 in stride. Has worked pretty well for me.

I may try that again. I had good success with that before on the lower levels like I am playing now. I tried it early on with my Albion Rovers in year one but the whole team was stinkin' so I scrapped it. Now with some more talented guys coming in for my second year I may give it a try.

Is the SIgames.com site down? I decided this afternoon that I would download and buy this year's version, but it now seems my the internet is not cooperating. Can anyone link me directly to the "store" of whichever online distribution vender they are using?

Thanks!

http://www.direct2drive.com/1/5182/p...-2008-Download

Many thanks! Now, does anyone know if there are any off-SI mirrors for this much discussed beta patch?

THANKS! And now, you probably won't see me for a while! ;)

Just won promotion to Serie B, now it's time to make some tough decisions on who to keep and who to replace. Hopefully I get a bit of cash to spend in the offseason or this team will struggle to servive next year.

I'm playing as Hampton & Richmond in Blue Square South and have made a living off of low expectations.

I was expected to fight for relegation in my first season in BSS, but proceeded to win the entire thing, earning promotion to the Blue Square Premier. Again, I was expected to battle for relegation and currently am sitting in 8th and have allowed eight goals in 15 games.

I don't expect to get promoted to League 2 for a while as I'm having a heck of a time to get a transfer budget so I have to settle for season-long loans and go at it season-to-season.

What the hell, I've ordered it! More than 50% off the regular price is too much to keeping me from checking out the game...:D

Lol, then you can be called Italian again, you were going to lost your nationality because not owning a soccer game.

Btw, mate, long time no see you online in AIM/ICQ, the price to pay for your girlfriend living with you now? :D

:D

Ah ah, you're absolutely right. Not owning PES 2008 (or whatever is called) is already a crime here, but not owning even FM, man, you're convicted!


Nah, she doesn't live with me yet. We're getting close, though... The real reason for not seeing me is that I've been CRAZY busy with work and study in September and October, and I had very very little free time. Now that things are more relaxed, you'll see me again, no worries. I can't wait to talk to you, got a lot of things to say.

Oops, I changed both my Captains heading into year two. Precisely right after I did that the little helpful hint the game gave me while simming to the next day was that you should be careful about changing captains to quickly, it may upset people. My whole team's morale went to the crapper except for the new captains. Lesson learned. Atleast it was still before the regular season.

I'm finally about to dive into the PLA. Have no idea where I'll start this year, but...should be a good time!

What type of tactic are you using?

The closing down and morale issues are still a thorn for me after the beta patch. Especially closing down as it is a big part of my tactic. I am playing Millwall in L1 and started unbeaten in 13 last Season, installed the patch and finished 11th.

I went and spent every penny I had to get the right fit of players for my style and currently sit 1W 1D 2L (both away) after 4. I am hoping it just takes time for the new players to gel, as I play a high risk style and I need to score 2-3 goals a game as I get few clean sheets.

I've had pretty good success using the game's default 5-3-2 Attacking formation (mostly because the best player on my Conference North squad is a WBR/DR) and this formation gives your WBR/L (or DR/L) more of a role.

I've also noticed a lot of other computer controlled teams using this formation.

I need to visit a Tactics primer somewhere.

I've messed around with a couple games in the full version, but none of the teams are clicking with me yet.

Anyone heard of guys running WWSM with the beta patch having problems with a blue screen of death? My computer has been fine since I have had the beta patch going, but all of the sudden it has gone crazy on me. I was playing some last night, saved it, and this morning when I went to load it my computer rebooted on me. The it rebooted right away again. The thing has locked up or rebooted about 50 times today now. I thought I was in the clear early and then I tried to play WWSM again. The game loaded, and about 3-4 minutes later I got the reboot again.

I hate the beta patch. Before it, I was winning some games and doing pretty decently.

Now I keep losing by scores like 11-0, 7-1, 8-0, etc.

It's irritating, since I'm not trying anything advanced or anything, just the basic 4-4-2 and it happens no matter what team I pick.

I didn't have blue screens, but I had other issues. I had to completely uninstall the game and reinstall it with the beta patch to clear up my issues.

if your loosing by those huge margins i dont think you can blame the patch :rolleyes:

Just want to say I am about 99% sure now that my problem is NOT being caused from WWSM and the beta patch. I have had problems just being on the web or even doing nothing at all, in fact this is my second attempt at posting this.

I think my problem is from my hinges being broken on my laptop monitor and the wires running from laptop to monitor are getting messed up. Called tech support this morning and it will be shipped off soon to be repaired. Just didn't want to leave the blame on WWSM.

I started off with a normal 4-4-2 but then switched to the 4-5-1 defensive. It works quite a bit defensively. I think it also helps that most of my back-line are loans from the parent club.

I don't know.. BYU 14 started off an 13 game win streak then installed the patch and ended up in 11th place...

Clearly the patch is affecting something somewhere. *shrugs*

Maybe the problem was pre-patch?

Oh, it was, I'm sure.

I just liked actually winning. :D

I figured it out.

After the latest 7-2 drubbing, I realized what's wrong with the beta patch.

They KILLED the goalies.

Anywhere from 2-5 times a game, I'm seeing 30 and 35 yard shots go in and goalies have not stopped the ball once on either side.

NO GOALIE STOPS.

So yeah, the game's on the shelf until a finalized patch gets out.

Yep. There's a known bug with long shots just being utterly insane, especially vs lower league teams.

Which is precisely what I play with.

I feel a lot better now knowing that it's not me.

It's still disappointing to say the least.

I was going to say I haven't noticed anything at all, but I've been playing with Arsenal. In my new career I just started I've played 10 games, scored 2.1 a game and given up .7 a game.

Game would be on the shelf for me if that were happening.

I think this is the worst FM release ever. I'm really not that happy with the state of the game. I know it will get fixed and patched, but more and more FM is not an instant buy for me anymore. I'll definately wait next year to patch 1 or 2 before I purchase it.

I was actually fine with it, had a blast with the demo etc, until the bug that broke LLM happened.

Maybe next year, instead of releasing the game at the end of October and then releasing a patch towards the end of November, they will keep it for the extra month and make sure the bugs are worked out before release.

*shrug* Even if it's true, it's not bothering me too much. I've only conceded 38 goals through 35 games.