you know there a manual that comes with the digital download.

you can try that that for 6 months gametime like the gold demo. but the digital download is exactly like the full version. everything is unlock. so it makes it better than the gold demo.

after 6 months of gametime, you should purchase it to continue pass the 6 months.


this game is excellent. great support and great price.

It will take care of everything. No need to download the other one.

See, this is one of the factors with the pricing I guess. As you are in Europe, you have multiple retail options (regular or online) to find the cheapest one to suit you to get a boxed copy. Whereas the North Americans will have to import from Europe with extra cost or wait until they get a retail release sometime later. Or they can now buy the DD version online :D

Not really a fair comparison to be honest.. mainland Europe is generally at least €10 more expensive than all US games (not just EHM), and €5 more expensive than Great Britain. EB is terrible for the Swedish market though.. the old chain of stores (Tradition) that is now EB used to be the best place to go for good prices, including mailorder alternatives, now it's the opposite since EB took over.

okay so i'm finding this version quite a bit harder than EHM:FE. And maybe that's partly because of the horribly overpriced offer-sheet that I signed Roman Hamerlik to that took up 4 years of 1st round picks (two of which would have been at #3 so far), and some other ummn...questionable roster decisions (promoting Hannu Toivannen too soon and dumping off Raycroft). But I still cant' seem to get myself out of the cellar. Which I guess is a good thing. I'm going to DL this unfaking data update and then start a new game with it.

FYI...in my game Washington won the NHL Draft Lottery last year so now they've got Ovechkin playing alongside Crosby and they're tearing stuff up.

the download's corrupt to me.

84.5 MB with Internet Explorer - Corrupt
85 MB with GetRight - Corrupt.
86.5 MB with Firefox - Corrupt

I believe the server is updating its version for some reason (we're looking into this currently) - can you try again shortly please (sorry for the inconvenience).

Ok, started a new download, looks to be the correct size.

Is this game downloadable or do I have to order it?

It's downloadable.

Loving it so far, up to after 4 last night with it (ouch). Had a probltm this afternoon though. A game went to shootout and after selecting the players for shootout and hitting okay, I pressed resume and it did nothing. It just remained on the sreeen like it was the end of overtime. I hit pause game and resume a coupole more times but nothing. I tried going into the tactics screen and hitting ok, then resuming the game but still nothing. The only way out was to ctl-alt-del and select end program (which stayed in a running state for quite some time before going to not responding. After several end atempts, the game finally ended. Has this happened to anyone else?

I appologize in advance if this has been mentioned in here but I didn;t really want to read through 15 pages to see if it was, especially with lunch about to be ready. ;)


Loving the game so far though, great job.

I don't know if its tactics or what but have the 2nd best record in the league one year and the next season floundering in 14th place, using same tactic and players. I tried to let Hitchcock see if he can do anything with them and the board fired him(i shoulda have learned from the first time). I am guessing there was something to be exploited in my tactic but i don't know what it was or how to fix it

can't wait for the patch

*knock soundly on wood*

I am enjoying an unprecedented level of success as well. It's the 2009-2010 season, just past the trading deadline, and I have about 15 games to go and already have 106 points. I think we've only lost 10 games all year. We're #1 in goals against and goals for. Phil Kessel leads the league in goals and points with around 85.

I am using the neutral zone trap and with a few modifications here and there. What really happened is that I was building a team for the future, a future within a US $40 million payroll. May "cap" was inflated to around $80 million. I am still well below that, but the extra space has made me an active player in the UFA market. The core of my team is still based on the draft (Kessel, Ovechkin, Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Eminger, etc.) and trades (Zetterberg, Horton, Weiss, Phaneuf, Klesla, Hartnell, Williams, and Henrik Lundqvist). But being able to bring in some top UFAs, namely McCabe, McLaren, O'Neil, and Saku Koivu has really took the team to the next level. Having Koivu as my #4 center and top penalty killer is just an insane luxury to have. Even at the ripe old age of 34.

Congrats to JeffR for getting picked up as a moderator over on the SI EHM forum. I guess now we can assume he speaks with some authority. I always just thought he was making stuff up :p

I was, I've just gotten Riz and Graeme to fall for it now. ;)

Sweet! Can I littler the boards with CHL propaganda now?

Hell no, that's my job. ;)

Before I head out to open hockey, wanted to post some impressions:

At first I really wasn't enamored with EHM; instead, I still found myself engulfed in my FM dynasty (playing in the lowest Belgian league). I only fired up EHM when frustrated by an FM lock-up, basically.

Now, however, the tables are turned. I took over my beloved New York Islanders, determined to build through our own system. The head coach took care of all the coaching things -- I'm purely a GM. I don't mind a few losing seasons as long as we are stockpiling the most revered farm system in the NHL. I think, a little over a season in, I'm well on my way to that title.

The first year we started off well, but went into a big slide midway through the season and slipped out of the playoff picture. We were hardly even within a shout at the trade deadline, and at that point had already offloaded Michael Peca (for a 2nd rounder to the Bruins). I had made Yashin available all season, and a couple times the Blues came calling, but were only ever willing to give up mediocre prospects for Yashin and his $10mil contract. The only other trade I made sent young swift-skating defenseman Chris Campoli to the Blackhawks for a prospect, Bryan Bickell, who at the time my scouts were saying was a potential first or second liner. He had good size at 6-4, 200+, but I was concerned by his lack of production. (More on him later...)

In the offseason, Adrian Aucoin never had any interest in renegotiating his deal, and left for moderate money to the Canucks. We picked up a couple of second-tier free agents (Bob Boughner being the main one), and in the waiver draft added Steve Konowalchuck. The plan was that the rest of our roster holes (a lot of slots were left open by departing free agents) would basically be filled by junior prospects starting to mature.

The draft was something I enjoyed greatly. My draft scouting got started a little late, so I didn't necessarily get the totally comprehensive reports I might have liked, but I had been scouting all of the CHL leagues and even some of the Junior A leagues (BCHL, etc.). So I had a pretty good idea of what was available. Crosby, of course, went first to the Coyotes. I picked 6th, and wasn't quite sure what to do. I had a couple guys I liked, but one of my scouts had minor issues with. Picking at #6, I didn't want to take someone I had any doubts about. My Assistant GM and Head Coach (Steve Stirling) liked Tomas Pospisil, a diminutive forward from the Czech Republic. My head scout, who I trust, didn't have any problems with him, and his ratings were good, but I really didn't like his size (5-10, 140+ IIRC). Nevertheless, I felt he was a fairly "safe" choice, so went ahead and made the pick. There was another player I LOVED, but just couldn't justify at #6, in Matt Lashoff. Not only did my scouts all like Lashoff, but his ratings were quite good and he is from the Capital District. I decided to wait through about the 15th pick before deciding whether to make a move. At #16 he was still on the board, so I contacted the Leafs. My first offer was rejected (a 2nd and a 3rd this year, or somesuch), but when I put next year's 1st rounder and this year's 3rd on the table, they took my deal. Lashoff, I felt, would be a Top-10 pick in most year's, so even with my likely high draft position next year, I saw myself getting value here.

In the 2nd round I feel like I got an absolute steal with Ryan Parent, and even in the later rounds felt very good about the players I picked up. I snagged John Vigilante in the 5th round, which looks like maybe the best pick of the draft.

After the draft I had to fill my roster holes, so I signed Nokkelainen (19 years old), Dmitri Cherynych (19), Jeremy Colliton (20), and Blake Comeau (20). I took a look at Bickell, but at this point mine and my scouts opinion of him was really slipping. Robert Nilsson, a former 1st rounder, now looks like little more than an undersized 4th liner, so I passed on him, too.

I signed Vigilante (who was 20 when I drafted him), and sent him to Bridgeport. Cherynych also made his way down there, and Colliton as well. Those three have played on the top line in Bridgeport and been quite good -- especially Vigilante who is putting up around a PPG. He will get consideration for a later-season call-up.

Before the season started, I sent Alexei Yashin and his $10mil contract to the Caps for a 2nd rounder, feeling a I made out pretty well. My payroll was now down in the low-to-mid 30's and I was well under budget.

Our season started out well, with the younger guys playing well, but now we have badly slipped and are in about the same position as last season.

My prospects aren't looking as good as I had hoped, and I don't really have anybody who looks like a can't-miss at this point. Pospisil, fortunately, is tearing up the OHL, so I have high hopes for him in the not-too-distant future.

Overall, I have to say that I just love following all my prospects and their progress in their respective leagues. The draft is absolutely phenomenal in EHM -- you have a perfect amount of information to make your choices, but I've already seen there is (appropriately) a lot of volatility in your prospects' potential.

Great work, riz!
~rpi-fan

So this is pretty funny. First, you need to know that this was caused by an unofficial "unfaking" game update (not SI's fault). There seems to be a problem with how the National Teams' ID number are lining up (or some other technical jarble), but anyways...



I would advise against using the unfaking update, BTW. There has been a number of problems, including one that goofed up a career I started with the Brandon Wheat Kings where I had a ghost coaching my team.

Yay! Go Scotland! :)

Man, Trinidad and Tobago just isn't the power that it used to be.

No home ice advantage for them anymore, ever since the great Tobagan ice crisis of '87 forced them to break up their only rink into emergency cubes that were used to stave off a potentially disastrous cold drink shortage.

Arghggrrrr. I'm in December of my second season with the Devils, and my most recent first-round pick Michael Blunden just broke his ankle down in juniors and is out for four months. That's valuable experience and information that'll be missing when I'm trying to set a roster for next season. Of course he'll come to training camp and he'll get a look, but it'll be tough to decide whether to keep him with the NHL squad or not. He was doing so well in juniors, too.

Did you use the unofficial update Riz linked too?
Have others seen issues with it? I ask because I've seen no issues like this, but I don't want to, either.

Thanks.

The only problem I've had with the unfaking update was when I took over the Flames, I couldn't get rid of Darryl Sutter, who was also GM/Head Coach. I was able to fix this using the editor by making him a free agent at the start. Unfortunately, this fired all of my coaches, which wasn't a big deal to me as I usually like to start fresh.

The only other problem I've come across is the player_search.cpp error but that's on the official SI changelist so it isn't an unfaking problem.

Welcome back ;)

there will be another unfaking update version 2 coming out today according to SI forum.

looks like there going to fix the problems with team id# wrong and update the new teams in ECHL too and update the AHL's new Division Alignment for the upcoming season.

read the whole thread here.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb...5/m/4372062141

Quick question about TV money. I am managing the Canucks and at the start of the second season I recieved only 2 million in TV money. Is that about right for a team that had the best record in the NHL but lost in the second round of the playoffs?

I haven't played the NHL, but I think the money you get at the beginning of the season is from a tv package deal for the upcoming season and is shared equally among the teams, thus your regular season standings and playoff performance would have no influence on it. I could be wrong.

This is right. I have played a good 6-7 seasons and have always received $2 million in TV money each year, regardless of record. I don't think it has any impact at all on your team budget. It helps with the bottom line, but that's about it. It's not like in FM where the TV money is key in filling your transfer coffers.

Thanks guys.

Where do I insteall the unfake patch?

I found the DL but can't find directions. Any help is appreciated.

there a readme included for version 1

Unfaking_v1.0- By Kidhander, Javs, Twolf, Mne

Unzip all the files into the NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005\data folder

A special thanks to Mne, thanks!

ENJOY!!

Thanks, JB

Thanks... It actually provided ample time to rip out my basement...

Ouch. You got hit hard by the flood?

In my second season, the Flames board increased the budget to $46 million. Considering I finished 4th overall last season with a $37.5 million roster and managed to sign almost everyone back, I didn't get involved in the free agent spending. The Flames are now 'Rich' with over a $30 million balance.

Meanwhile, the Oilers have a $40 million budget; I was able to check thanks to the finance bug. In the off-season they go and sign:

- Mike Modano
- Sergei Zubov
- Sergei Gonchar
- Nikolai Khabibulin
- Tomas Kaberle

The Oil is in fourth but their payroll is at $62 million. I'm in 13th but have lots of money.

An inch of water throughout the finished basement has meant pretty much everything has to come out. The cleaning company advises 'rip everything out' to prevent mold but we're trying to minimize what has to be thrown away since it was only ground water, not river or sewage backup. We're trying to balance health and $. Of course, insurance doesn't cover this so we're waiting on the Alberta Government's Disaster Recovery Program.

Anyone who finishes with a winning record:

-Tell me which team you use
-Please detail your tactics for me

I want to get into this game badly, but can't so far.

I can't say if it works for EHM 2005 yet but in my experience (and this is in EHM and in real life) I prefer doing a no nonsense type of game plan. Think the Minnesota Wild.

Invest in a group of sturdy D, with forwards who do the little things. Play an aggressive backcheck, trap the neutral zone and simplify the game.

Try and get guys who can score, though they don't need to be superstars and work from there.

I like having guys with high character attributes. They go a long way.

Anyways, I'll get more in depth as I play more and more.

I have been pretty successful. Won back-to-back Cups in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, I had 133 points and led the league in goals for and goals against. 2011 is proving to be successful as well, but not like that 2010 run.

I think I've summarized my tactics somewhere in the thread above, but I will recap, nay, I will go find it and cut and paste into this thread. Nothing much has changed, save some of the players.

In-Game Tactis:

Off System:
I tend to go with mixed here more often than not. But, like everything else, it depends on the players you have. If they have all around talent (good skaters, good passing, etc.), I think mixed seems to work the best.

If they are all great skaters, but may lack a little in the way of passing skills, skating might work.

If they are grinders/forecheckers, I would go with dump & chase.

Off Zone:
I tend to use either "positional" or "crash the net." I use Crash the net if I have a big, strong centerman who can get there. At the moment I have Nathan Horton and Jeff O'Neil. Both big lads who have flourished under this system.

If I have a less physical center, I tend to go with positional. My other center, Stephen Weiss (no I am not the Panthers, I just like to trade with them), isn't as big and strong, so I used this system with him.

Forecheck:
Like The Hip said, the neutral zone trap, while dull, appears to be the way to go. I recently switched to the neutral zone trap and it has worked wonders. Been very pleased with the results. We have drastically reduced the shots on goal and goals against. I used to go with the "high forecheck" but was letting in way too many goals. Way, way too many...

Backchecking/Pressing:
I tend to keep both at "normal." I have had limited success by moving these to "hard."

Mentality:
Again, I tend to keep this at "normal." Like above, I have had limited success in moving this to attacking or defensive.

Pass/Shoot Bias
I think The Hip's advice is sound. Have your best shooters set on "shoot" and the rest on pass. I like to have at least one forward on shoot (though never more than two) and at least one d-man per pairing, or at least one d-man per pairing on the powerplay.

Board Battles:
I tend to leave this as "unit" which is mixed. Though if I have any hulking bruts with high strength (e.g., Hal Gill, Nathan Horton, etc.) then I make it "power." Likewise if I have a wee, speedy lad, I use "finese."

Hitting:
I always have hitting set on "hard." I tend to get a lot of penalties, but I like to hit. It's in my idiom.

PP/PK Units:
I really haven't messed with this in EHM 2005.

Line Combos:
I tend to try to have my top two lines be strong all around. The focus tends to be offense, but I like to have all six forwards have some decent defensive ratings as well. For example, at the moment my top two lines are as follows:

Ovechkin - Jeff O'Neil - Phil Kessel
Hartnell - Weiss - Justin Williams

While they are all good offensive players, most are pretty sound defensively.

I usually like to have my third line be a "crash" line/"grind" line/"checking" line or whatever you want to call it. These tend to be players who can hit, play solid defense, and chip in the occasional goal. I usually have these guys on "dump and chase" and "crash the net." Sometimes, if my roster gets too talent heavy (a nice problem to have), the third line becomes more interchangable with the top two and loses its "grind line" identity. As is the case with my current squad. The third line is:

Zetterberg - Nathan Horton - Magnus Khanberg

The fourth line varies. Sometimes the fourth line becomes the "grind line." This works because these forwards can bu used as your penalty killers. This makes sure your PK unit is always fresh and you're not wearing down your forward on your top two lines who will already be on the powerplay unit.

Other times, my fourth line is less a "grind" line and more of a "goon" line. This tends to happen with my teams every so often. When the talent is a bit thin and I grab players like this off waivers. I don't mind the physical stuff, so it's not all bad.

Most frequently, I try to put out a "kid" line with the fourth line. These are usually rookie players or younger players (20-22) who I want to give some ice time in the NHL. At the moment, this is what I am doing. The kid line currently is:

Tomas Pospisil - Anze Kopitar - Michael Blunden

Over all, don't hesitate to mix and match lines. I have found that tweaking lines or tactics just a little bit, is a good way to get out of a slump. I also like to try to have lines that fit together. Have a great playmaking center? Put him with a sniper or two?

I used to play A LOT of Strat-o-Matic hockey back in the day. I think it heavily influences how I put my lines together. I don't think the two games work the same at all, but it is what it is. These influences mainly include:

1. For each defensive pairing at least one of the blueliners should be able to move the puck: good skating/passing. I love me some big, tough hard-hitting defensemen, but if both guys are hulking pilons with no puck skills, you are in for a long shift: turnovers, penalties, etc.

2. If I have a checking line, there should be no defensive weak spot. All three forwards should be good checkers, hitters, etc.

3. Never trust your goalie. No matter how good he appears to be on paper, he will screw you over.

4. Hitting is fun.

5. You need at least one guy who can fight if things get out of control.

Great summary, HB. I think I might just go back to doing my own tactics. I was in a slump and turned it over to the head coach.

With the Flames, I tried to have a Crash the Net, High Forecheck, Hard, Hard, Power game. It worked well during the regular season (4th overall) but I got killed by Dallas in the first round, including once losing 7-0.

good news. there another update to the unfake version 1.

>> Minor League Update <<
Description: Update that updates the AHL's new Division Alignment for the upcoming season as well as the new teams. Also some changes to the ECHL.

Builds upon the unfake update.

Minor League Update v1.0 by Javs and Kidhander

(Database) Updates...

- New AHL Teams for that are entering the league in the 05-06 season, and new Division Alignment
- New Teams in the ECHL
- NHL Affiliations Updated to July 1st/05
- Minor Unfaking
- Some 04/05 Transfers

(Logo Pack) Updates...

- AHL/ECHL Team/Comp Logos

Unzip Database to NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005\data
Unzip Logo Pack to NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005\data\Pictures

http://www.eastside-uk.co.uk/download_file.php?id=78

Has anyone figured out how to access your shortlist during the draft? I know we were able to in last year's version and man do I miss not being able to.

I haven't dug into it too deeply, so I don't know how widespread the problems are, but at the very least, I'd advise Leaf fans (and/or anyone wanting to play as them) to stay away from this.

I was pleased to see that they got the Marlies in the game -- and they're selectable if you want to play the AHL -- but if you start as the Leafs, and you go to the "See Also" menu from the roster screen, it still lists Pensacola and St. John's as the minor league affiliates. Worse, if you go to the St. John's roster via this method, the title bar says St. John's, but the roster is empty.

If you want to send a player down from the main roster, there is only an option to "Send to St. John's".

To cap it all off, selecting the Roster Management view crashes the game. :)

That's what you get for being a leaf fan ;)

Not sure if you can access it, but I do know that players on your shortlist are a different color on the draft screen.

So I guess the only way to get an overview is to scroll through the massive list and then use the 'compare players' feature.... yuck.

or be more selective of who you put on your shortlist :D

Not sure what you mean here - how would being able to access the shortlist during the draft make it easier to compare players to each other?

dont worry

i posted you bug at si forum and the guys making unfake

is coming out with another new version soon.

kidhander1983 said

"i've found what the bug is and i think i can fix it"
"I've just fixed it"


the new verison will include.

"NEW VERSION OF THE UNFAKING UPDATE IS COMING SOON!!

Fixes since unfaking v1.0 include...

- Vancouver NCAA prospects
- Big Swiss Players
- New AHL Teams for that are entering the league in the 05-06 season, and new Division Alignment
- New Teams in the ECHL
- NHL Affiliations Updated to July 1st/05
- Minor Unfaking
- Some 04/05 Transfers

international histories, will it be corrected"

I saw that....meant to post at SI last night after I did here, but got sidetracked. Thanks for covering for me. :)

Good news.

Meh, I'm no longer convinced that updating the data in my game with unofficial stuff is a good idea. There are enough other things to worry about.

It's really starting to irk me that another patch hasn't been released yet. Known crashes need to be fixed as soon as possible. What about guys that don't keep up with the bugs list and don't know that you can't check the transactions history of staff that have been fired? It's beginning to seem like SI has an agenda. Something along the lines of, "we're gonna release one big patch and then focus all the rest of our time on the NA update/patch." Just thinking out loud.

Well, yeah. If there are no serious problems with this patch, wouldn't it make sense for the next one to be the North American release? We're only talking three months or so to get some fairly major changes into the game, so work has to start on it sometime. Having more patches between now and then would eat up badly-needed time.

As for the next patch, it's still being tested. The cutoff for data change requests was yesterday, so that should give you some idea that it's close. But there are still some things that aren't quite right.

I'm saying that fixing crashes 4-5 weeks after they've been reported seems a bit too long. I hit one of them the other day and then noticed that it was reported weeks ago.

Why not release a patch in between? I do weekly rolling saves, but I still don't like to lose work do to crashes that have been reported and fixed. Is it a matter of pride? Maybe it's a matter of convenience - they don't have to give trymedia a new exe.

but isn't it nice that we're at least getting patches?? Hell, half the games on the market these days you're lucky if you get ONE patch. Look at Rome:Total War for example, and how long it's taken them to just get the AI right. You can always put the game on the shelf for a little while till it's all patched up...

Not even worth responding to that.

Let's say I'm in the late rounds and I'm starting to look at unranked players. Suppose I have

Billy Adams
Jack Crawford
Ed Hill
John Smith
Jason Zachery

on my shortlist, but don't know who to pick. To compare these players, I have to scroll through the mass of available players until I get to them, click on each of them, and then use the 'compare players' feature. As I posted on SI, it's workable but it's so much easier if I can just quickly click on each of them in the shortlist.

Well, first they have to *find* the source of the crashes. If they're not easily reproduceable, that can take days of hunting. Once the fix is made, it needs to be tested. If a patch comes out with a crash fix that badly breaks some other aspect of the game, that's no good. So there's a few more days of testing - and SI can test for the basic stuff, but to really give it a thorough working-over they need outside testers.

And no matter how many new ones they add, it always seems to come down to the same old group of 8-10 dependable testers finding the time to dig into the guts of the game to make sure everything's working right. Then, if we find serious problems, things have to start over again. I don't know how much extra time is necessary to deal with the Trymedia aspect, but I'm pretty sure it's trivial compared to the coding and testing time.

Yeah, they could rush an untested patch out the door every Friday. But how happy would you be if a beta patch corrupted your 10-year save game, or started producing ridiculous statistics? And even if those things didn't happen, there'd be a different group of people saying that the game must be incredibly buggy, because X number of patches had to be released for it.

A 4-5 week wait for a patch is hardly unreasonable. Yeah, more is expected of SI than a never-patch company like EA. But I've seen plenty of respected game developers spend a lot more time between patches.

Well, you don't want Black Jack Crawford, the man's been dead for 32 years. ;)

OK, I see what you mean here. Maybe a filter can be added for shortlisted players, so you can set it so only those are displayed.

I've only played two seasons but it seems way too easy to make money. As the Flames, I've always stayed under budget and this apparently brought in huge amounts of cash. In two years the player budget has gone from $35 million to $46 million to $59 million.

In reality, following the team as I do, it's likely a large portion of the $20-$30 million made each year would have been used to clear down the remaining debt. Some would be profit and any left over *may* have seen the player budget increase by one or two million.

Essentially the point is that budget increases are too drastic from year to year and should happen gradually.

I'm not complaining though :

Samsonov - Langkow - Iginla
Bell - Talbot - Heatley
Moreau - Yelle - Nilson
Mair - Fisher - Michalek
Dingman - Murray

Leopold - Regehr
McKee - Kubina
Phaneuf - Lydman
Doig - Grandpierre

Kiprusoff
Brathwaite

Yeah, I've noticed that, too. And for some reason, the Flames in particular have an easy time getting their budget to go up. Not much point in Riz changing any of that now, though, with the cap coming.

Ok so I haven't been following this latest release very closely. With the cap coming up and all the changes (both in the NHL and in the minors) will there be a patch released whenever the new CBA is signed?

Dola- I thought I read somewhere that the game is cheaper if you bought last year's version. Is that correct?

No.

Our current plan is to finish the second patch in the very near future and release it after it has been through the beta test team. After that, we will be setting our sights into updating our databases and code to reflect the new league structures, rules and rosters for the upcoming 2005/06 season. The North American release of NHL EHM 2005 is planned on being based on this updated code, which will then be made available as a regular downloadable update for people who already have the European boxed version or the Digital Download version. Hope this helps.

Can't really complain about that!

i'm starting to get frustrated by my total inability to score, and at the same time, the way my nuetral-zone trap is giving up 3+ goals a game routinely. Given I'm not exactly trying to win this season, but when I started off with a top line of Carter-Zubris-V. Bure-McGillis-Numinen in front of Kolzig, there's no way in my mind with any tactic that I should be loosing by 3-4 goals every game, and struggling to score ANY goals. What's going on?? I havn't really "messed" with tactics too much, I tend to stick to the defaults, but even when I did try to heavily modify a tactic it didn't seem to help. What gives???

dola

48 games into the season...80 GF and 163 against. Now I havn't been using the same tactic the whole season, I've been ping-ponging through them every couple games trying to find one that will work. But still...WTF am I doing wrong? I love this game, but it's really starting to get frustrating!

That's likely part of the problem. It takes the team time to adjust to a major change in tactics. Pick something similar to what other teams seem to be having success with, and then make minor adjustments to fit the strengths of your team.

i feel like i started off the season (first 20 games or so) with the same tactic, which was a straight neutral zone trap, but it wasn't trapping at all, so i backed away from it and then ping-ponged.

actually, when i let the computer handle the lines and tactics I've picked up like 3 more wins, and i now have like 11 wins total in the season. Hey, at least I win the Crosby-sweepstakes (which was the idea actually once i knew i couldn't compete).

How long does it usually take to sim a season?

couple hours i'd say. and that's doing it not constantly but like...with 50% attention. Although I have to say, I think I spend less time in-season with EHM then I do with FM. Maybe that's part of my problem...

DaddyTorgo

Practice is key too.

if you let head coach handle practice, they wont do everything on the practice screen.

so its best you do your own.

be sure to have coaches for practice cover only 3 areas each only to get the maximum of your players.

If the two sides agree on a new CBA soon, then the new CBA (salary cap and all) will be coded in for the NA release?

That's the plan, assuming the deal gets signed and ratified soon, and Riz's bomb-avoiding luck continues to hold out. ;)

One question I have is when I turn tactics off to give the reigns to the head coach, do any of the team, line or individual orders remain in effect?

For instance, if I set everyone to fight, will the coach turn it off?

Unless you've got the "use current tactics" option selected, yeah, he'll do his own thing.

Happens to me in this version, happened to me in the last one. Even if I had amazing talent (Allison - Palffy - Bertuzzi /// Naslund - Crosby - Deadmarsh) I only made the playoffs once in 7 years.

In this one, I started 0-5-1, going down early each game. I didn't do many tactic changes, either - and I actually know hockey well enough to figure out how tactics should be set.

Anyways, I just feel like there's something I'm not getting and it takes the fun out of it for me.

dont let your head coach handle practice.

it does not do everything on the practice screen.

your better off doing it yourself.

Riz

i would love to see the head coach handle everything on the practice screen.

i think our point jb is that it's not practice that is the problem. If you have a team with that much superior talent, regardless of how effective your practice is, you shouldn't be getting blown out as often as we seem to be.

and i dunno, i agree with rex. It's starting to take something out of the game for me. It's frustrating, and not in a "i can figure this out so it won't be frustrating way", but in a "goddamnit, everything i do doesn't seem to help so why do i bother" kind of way.

and i know my hockey, i understand what sort of players should be playing what sort of system. In my edited tactic i had a line of talented offensive players setup as a shoot-pass line (with guys specifically noted as shooters) and then a second line with less of an offensive-slant the same way, with designated "shooters" and passers and then lines of neutral-zone trapping, hard-hitting defensive guys. And I was still giving up 3...4...5 goals a game.

So I even upgraded my defense (along with my offensive too BTW) during the offseason, and now I can win some 3-2, 5-4 games, but I'll still (as the #13 team in the league) wind up getting blown out 7-2 or 6-1 way too often by teams that are like #5 in the league.

that's not good AI. That's just getting to be damn frustrating.

you guys might have a point. i am seeing others in the SI forum report the same problem.

it will be very frsutrated not knowing why your losing games with great talent on the team.

For me the biggest thing isn't that I don't know why...hell, if I knew why, that wouldn't make the game fun :)

It's that a team with top-tier talent plays like an ECHL team. Sure, I'll get a few goals, but I'm almost always playing from behind, and when I tie a game, or god forbid win, I feel like "WHOA!"

It's not that my guys are playing poorly, either. I just lose. A lot. (lol)

Sure it's fun to draft in the top 3 every year, but it takes the fun away when your guys turn into amazing players - and still you don't win.

I know exactly how you feel. I have been there a few times with this game and FM. It drives me nuts. That said, I just did win my third straight Stanley Cup with the Caps. I can't explain it any more than I have above... Things just seem to be working. A big part of that has to be Ovechkin and Kessel. They are dominating the league.

This I agree with... currently I am my hometown Cardiff Devils in the EIHL and I'm doing pretty well, but they are probably the best team in the league.

However, whenever I've played an NHL game it seems like it IMPOSSIBLE to beat any team that is "better" than me. The Avalanche, Red Wings and a number of other teams destroy me 6-1, 7-1 every game. Even as a sucky team, those scores don't seem to happen a lot in real life. I end up just giving my starting goaltender a rest when I play the "good" teams because I know I'm letting in a ton of goals and getting blown out anyway, and I'd really like to keep his morale up.

On the flip side, I can beat a team that is "worse" than me pretty much every time. The only games I can't call with 95% accuracy are the games with the couple of teams in the league that are pretty evenly matched with me.

Something just seems a bit off (and again this is only from experience not from hard facts or anything). Seems to me like yes the Av's should beat the Wild most times, but the Wild should still have a chance to keep it close and every now and then sneak a win with great goaltending or a hat trick performance or something.

I've added R. Nash, Heatley, Samsonov, Kubina and just missed out on B. Richards. The Flames are among the top half dozen teams in the league. Iginla hasn't lit it up at all and has been horrible in the playoffs the past two years. I've just decided to turn everything over to the coach except for determining who plays and the line combinations.

Well, my 6 year Blazer dynasty came to a screeching halt last night. I had let the coach handle the tactics and was content to handle roster management. Despite finishing 1st in the WHL 3 straight years, I managed to always get a low first round pick (#2 (2005), #1 (2006), #2 (2007), #8 (2008), #2 and #3 (2009)), but for whatever reason the last two seasons the team just wouldn't gel. I was picked to finish 2nd in the season preview, and found myself 15th at midseason, when the board fired my coach who only had some 60 odd games under his belt.

I certainly understand the fustration mentioned above. My current team is better in every way (ratings wise, at least) to my teams that dominated the WHL 3 seasons ago, but yet we were routinely beaten by 'pathetic' (according to the scout report) teams 5-1, 6-2, etc. Maybe I'm just not a good GM to figure out what my apparent weakness is, but there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.

archibalduk at sortitoutsi.net made a 69 page EHM 2005 guide that available for download.

It's 69 pages and includes:

* All of the sections already released
* A section on physios
* A section on the NHL Entry Draft
* FAQ
* A table of playable league reputations
* A league guide (fairly similar to the card that came with EHM 2004)

he also plans to make a second edition that shoudl be ready in Sept/Oct.

For the second edition, He already plana to add some tactical diagrams, expand the FAQ, make some minor additions in the league guide, expand the training section and implement any suggestions made by users.

to get the free download guide go here. post #25

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/forums/in...c=18567&st=0&#

I already posted on SI, but I've come across a potential show stopper. When I go to sim, <20 players appear in the lineup. It's gone as low as only 17 players playing. This has led to fatigued and injured players.

I hope it's just a result of the unfaking database and not the game itself.

I have noticed that there is a bit too much of a class system when the games are played. More so, I've noticed it when looking at the NHL games as I kind of expect it in some of the lower leagues.

The Devils just dominated the NHL this past season with just 6 losses. Each season seems to be very similar with the top team just dominating.

I am loving running an ECHL team, though a bit frustrating when my season gets turned upside down by players getting NHL contracts, like one player who had 14 goals in the first 10 games of the season and got yanked out from under me. I've begun developing a philosophy of going with a bunch of average talent guys (for ECHL standards) to avoid any big changes like that.

Re: Scouting

How much do you trust the 'star system'? I'll have guys with good attributes ranked a 1 or 2 and seen as no more than possible fringe players but guys with poorer attributes seen as potential key players.

Is it a waste of time to look at 0, 1 or 2 star players?

Can't really help answer your question, Karim, but I've got a question for you.

Did you ever end up uploading your save game at all with the <20 problem? I see that one of the EHM testers was asking for it. If it is indeed a bug in the game (and not the database), then it'd be nice to get it squashed with the next patch.

I have found some good 3 star players, but I rarely go or even look at 1 or 2 star players. I will take a look at 1 or 2 star prospects if at least one scout has them at a 3 or higher, but if it's 2s or lower across the board I rarely look at them. It certainly could be an over sight on my part, but it's how I usually draft. I would certainly be inclined, however, to go with a 2 star guy (if I happened to find him) with good attributes over a 3 star guy with crappy ones. I assume a 1 or 2 star prospect with good attributes is probably close to reaching his potential and will unlikely improve all that much.

In my most recent draft, I picked a Russian winger in the second round (traded away my first round pick) whoe all of my scouts had ranked as a "3'. None one had him pegged higher. He had fantastic attributes however and my head coach, scout, and assist. GM all said to take him. So I did. I brought him into camp just to see what he was made of. He played in 2 or 3 pre-season games and was freaking awesome. Well over 2 points per game. He's back in Russia now, but now all my scouts are claiming he's a 4 or 5 star prospect. So I guess things can change right quickly.

It happened for three games #78, #79, #80 and then 'corrected' itself so I didn't bother.

Are you looking at the potential or current star ratings?

I find myself not paying much attention to the stars at all. If a player looks like he might be good, regardless of what the scouts say, I usually go with my instincts. I usually only use the scouts ratings as a tie breaker when I am undecided about the player.

I am the opposite i draft all the 4, 5 star guys i can in the draft then look for defensive type guys (hitting, checking pokecheck) to round out my picks. I will have to play enough seasons to give an updated report.

I have run into a problem with my AHL farm team. The head coach is terrible. He is horrible at developling talent. It seems almost any prospect I bring up to the AHL wallows under his crappy tutelege without ever showing any great progress. In fact, it seems better for me to bring a youngster to the NHL and have him sit on the bench or play limited minutes than it is to leave him in the AHL. I can't fire the guy either. It isn't killing my team (back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cups and all :D ), but it is a bit frustrating to see some of my once promising prospects never reach their potential. Then again, maybe I am just drafting the wrong dudes.

Has anyone else noticed that injuries seem to come in bunches? I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like if one guy goes down (for more than a few days) at least one to three more will follow. Right now I have had three players go down to multiple week injuries in a few days. Then I will have long stretches of relative good health. It's odd.

I didn't even know there were two different sets of stars. The only stars I look at are those listed under the scout's name during/after a search.

Under Filters you can adjust the Ability between Any, Potential, and Current. It might be that your scouts are showing you the potential of a player with his skills already close to maxed out, so like HB said he would have very little improvement. For the poorer attribute guys, this is most certainly the case, as the player is probably nowhere near his full potential yet.