Alright boyz, here we go!!! FM 2006 First Impressions

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by 3ric

Correct, Aurora 2006.

Thank you! Now will an FM Aurora skin from Sortitoutsi work on my copy of WWSM?

[Marc Vaughan]

Yeah should be fine

(that is presuming its made for the correct version of the game - ie. FM2005 skins will not be guarenteed to work on FM2006 and vice versa)

[daedalus]

I did not know that colours do not change according to teams by default. I had used Chameleon up until Frogger recommended Aurora, then I switched to Aurora Flow (Blue/Left, for what it's worth). I tried Frogger's new favourite style of Swoosh but couldn't deal with the fact that the in-game slider is tiny so I stuck with Aurora.

Swoosh, I believe, has some extra statistics in one of the player's screens.

[Cringer]

Holidays are over. Someone tell me what city Digital River is in.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Yeah should be fine

(that is presuming its made for the correct version of the game - ie. FM2005 skins will not be guarenteed to work on FM2006 and vice versa)

Thanks, Marc.

[Marc Duffy]

Digital River patch now available from www.sigames.com and the check for updates button inside the game. Apologies for the delay

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

Digital River patch now available from www.sigames.com and the check for updates button inside the game. Apologies for the delay

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!

[Simms]

w00t!

[Cringer]

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Before I leave for work. Excellent.

[Cringer]

oooooy. I hate one thing about this game, it's too popular. 68 mb d/l for the patch and the thing is crawling. Almost 4 hours left right now.

[Cringer]

double dola- it has slowed down even more. 9 hrs.

[McSweeny]

Originally Posted by Cringer

oooooy. I hate one thing about this game, it's too popular. 68 mb d/l for the patch and the thing is crawling. Almost 4 hours left right now.

yeah i've been downloading all day

[Pumpy Tudors]

Someone needs to mirror this. Ah, well. I just came home with an XBox 360, so I'll just set that up and play with it until this patch gets downloaded.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Someone needs to mirror this. Ah, well. I just came home with an XBox 360, so I'll just set that up and play with it until this patch gets downloaded.

Not working must be killing you.

[FrogMan]

we really need a mirror for that patch... downloading at the blazing speed of 5.36KB/sec, download should be over in 3hr 32 min... sigh...

FM

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

we really need a mirror for that patch... downloading at the blazing speed of 5.36KB/sec, download should be over in 3hr 32 min... sigh...

FM

that is blazing, I am at 4.83KB/sec.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Cringer

that is blazing, I am at 4.83KB/sec.

that's cause our lines are icy cold up North, bytes slide better

FM

[Pumpy Tudors]

I have the file and am now uploading it to my webspace just in case anyone needs a faster mirror (it won't be blindingly fast, but it'll be good enough). The file won't be on my webspace for about half an hour, so at 7pm EST, I'll have someplace for FOFC to download from, if anyone's going to be interested. Anyway, I'll check back here after I'm done uploading the file and see if anyone has any thoughts.

[MikeVick7]

So what differences has everyone noticed with the patch so far? The two things I noticed when playing last night were that...

A) The threading issue is fixed and...

B) Player's stamina has increased greatly. I was able to have my entire team on tight marking and closing down of 20 (except my CD's) for an entire game and I didn't have to sub anyone.

[PraetorianX]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I have the file and am now uploading it to my webspace just in case anyone needs a faster mirror (it won't be blindingly fast, but it'll be good enough). The file won't be on my webspace for about half an hour, so at 7pm EST, I'll have someplace for FOFC to download from, if anyone's going to be interested. Anyway, I'll check back here after I'm done uploading the file and see if anyone has any thoughts.

So...?

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by PraetorianX

So...?

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=45942

[PraetorianX]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=45942

Damn, I seriously need new glasses or something...

[FrogMan]

a couple I noticed after playing some last night:

1) they tweaked the 2d engine some more and while it was doing a good job before, I felt it was even more diverse in events and twists last night.

2) the "sound going off after quick tactics" issue is still there

FM

[Flasch186]

whatever happened to the players getting pissed at the Ref's? was that overdone in comparison to real life or something?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

whatever happened to the players getting pissed at the Ref's? was that overdone in comparison to real life or something?

I just had one of these the other day, so they are still in the game.

Having a blast with this game, by the way. Was starting to think it was too easy but that was before my team tanked three matches, before my newly acquired defender got stressed out by some comments I made about him, before both my right midfielders went down with injuries, before my goalkeeper forgot how to catch the ball, before I went over the salary budget, and before I ran my lowly semi-pro team over 70,000 pounds into debt.

I'm not sure it's too easy any more.

For what it's worth, I've found a great game speed balance with lower leagues by loading the normal database and then loading all the players from the countries I've activated leagues in. I tried the large database size but the game was sluggish.

[Flasch186]

...so I turned on threading since patching and just had my first CTD. Sucks. off with the threading....grrr

[Flasch186]

great, it wont let me turn off threading....f'n wonderful

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

...so I turned on threading since patching and just had my first CTD. Sucks. off with the threading....grrr

Oh great. I didn't have any last night. Now you've got me paranoid.

[Flasch186]

i think it did it when it tried to Auto-save. Has anyone found a correlation to the threading and when it "used to" CTD? Is there a workaround, like turning off auto-save?

[path12]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

i think it did it when it tried to Auto-save. Has anyone found a correlation to the threading and when it "used to" CTD? Is there a workaround, like turning off auto-save?

I haven't downloaded the patch yet because of getting Civ IV for Christmas, but when I had threading on I tended to get the CTD's the first continue after a game.

[MikeVick7]

Mine would just crash when my cpu got too hot. I noticed that if I tried to continue my game while my fan was running, it would crash. I never noticed anything related to the auto save. I'll be playing for most of the night tonight so I will see what I encounter.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Come on, you big babies. Just suck it up and live without the threading. Mine doesn't even let me select threading as an option, and the game isn't that slow.

(I'm just joking about the "big babies" thing, so please don't get mad)

[Flasch186]

what really sucks is now that Ive checked it I cant uncheck it

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

what really sucks is now that Ive checked it I cant uncheck it

If you're a brave man jump into the windows registry and find the one marked Sports Interactive / Football Manager 2006 and kill it, when the game restarts it'll write a new one with default settings and it'll be turned off again (although I will try and remember to check whats up with enabling/disabling it - will have to be friday though as my eldest son is ill at the moment so I'm looking after him at home tomorrow).

[MikeVick7]

Marc V - Could you kindly shed some light on the effects of time wasting. I see a lot of tactics over on the SI boards with it on full claiming it helps with ball possession. I haven't seen it yet, so I'm wondering if it has any effect on that at all.

Basically I'm just trying to get a grasp on how to fully use it.

Thanks.

[Marc Vaughan]

Time wasting - its basically a situation where a team attempt to play 'keep ball' more often passing it amongst themselves and away from the opposition.

A player may also 'go to the flag' which involves moving to the corner flag on the pitch (generally the oppositions end, but not always) - this is because its very hard to get a 'clean' non-foul tackle in if you hold the ball in that area and keep your body between your opponents and yourself (they basically have to run around you which requires at least two opposition players really to pull off).

Advantages of this ploy:
* Frustrates the opposition which can mean they push onto you and open up holes for you to exploit and better still will wind up any volitile players on their team.
* If your team is good enough to hold onto the ball for long periods it can effectively kill a game

Disadvantages:
* Your fans and theirs will hate it, this is a very very negative ploy.
* If your team ISNT good enough then you'll find them losing the ball trying to play 'keep me' in the wrong areas and give away a scoring chance ..

Generally safest to use when the opposition is tired and thus not as able to chase down the ball as otherwise (ie. if you go ahead during Extra Time in a cup-game then you can probably safely use this to kill the game off, unless they've just brought on a load of subs).

Hope this helps,

Marc

[MikeVick7]

Thanks Marc, yeah that sheds some definite light on the subject. So since one of the objectives is to keep the ball more, would you say that this is kind of what Chelsea uses to help them "rest" on offense and maintain more ball possession?

[PraetorianX]

I turned Threading back on and had zero crashes with the new patch (I did with the old one, though) However, I also don't have autosaving on, so you may want to look into that. Also, I didn't play as long as normal because Spurs had a game that I needed to listen to (w00t, 2-0 win! CL here we come! ) I'll report back if I have any crashes tomorrow while playing.

About time wasting...my current normal tactics have this set about at often (about 3/4ths of the way...or around 15). I guess it helps, soon after making some tweaks (that one included) I went from struggling around 14th in November to 3rd at the end of the season, one the Premiership and FA Cup my next year and am doing well again. As well, the tactic has done well in the CL.

But as I said, there were several other changes that were made in addition. Such as a backwards arrow for Carrick (and holding the ball up) and a few other tweaks here and there.

[samifan24]

I am using the Aurora 2006 flow left skin. I am enjoying it except for a small problem. On days when I have a match or right after a match, the game "continues" for me without my pressing anything. After a match I've had 2 seperate e-mails regarding player physio/specialist decisions and the game has "decided" physio for me without my doing anything. On days when I have matches, it takes me to the squad selection page without my pressing "continue" or anything. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

Thanks Marc, yeah that sheds some definite light on the subject. So since one of the objectives is to keep the ball more, would you say that this is kind of what Chelsea uses to help them "rest" on offense and maintain more ball possession?

This is the sort of tactic that a lot of large teams use when they're 1-0 up to kill off a game around mid-way through the second half (I have seen teams try it earlier in a game, but its generally a lot less likely).

Chelsea do this very well - as have Liverpool in past seasons, England* (international team) are generally abysmal at it and often find themselves under excess pressure because they've tried to hold onto the ball in the wrong place and lost it ...

*This I tend to put down to the fact that this tactic relies on knowing your team-mates very well and being able to complement them by moving into open space to recieve a pass when they're under pressure, something which comes more naturally to a club side than an international side (where they might only play together a few weeks of the year).

[Flasch186]

are there any good training files out there. I made a couple but Id like to see some that others created to see if Im missing the boat.

[path12]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

are there any good training files out there. I made a couple but Id like to see some that others created to see if Im missing the boat.

What I would suggest is to make sure and always have your tactics and ball control training high for everybody -- I find that stressing the mental aspects of my players training makes for a big difference on the pitch as time progresses.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

If you're a brave man jump into the windows registry and find the one marked Sports Interactive / Football Manager 2006 and kill it, when the game restarts it'll write a new one with default settings and it'll be turned off again (although I will try and remember to check whats up with enabling/disabling it - will have to be friday though as my eldest son is ill at the moment so I'm looking after him at home tomorrow).

kill the whole thing or just one thing inside of it? under /installs? or the WWSM one? just "enable_threading"?

[PraetorianX]

Originally Posted by PraetorianX

I turned Threading back on and had zero crashes with the new patch (I did with the old one, though) However, I also don't have autosaving on, so you may want to look into that. Also, I didn't play as long as normal because Spurs had a game that I needed to listen to (w00t, 2-0 win! CL here we come! ) I'll report back if I have any crashes tomorrow while playing.

Well, I haven't had any crashes with my pre patch game, but my new game started with the new patch, I get that same old crash.

[path12]

I downloaded the patch last night and fired up my game, turned off the threading and had a crash within 15 minutes. Guess it's back to threading off for now. :-(

[path12]

Dola, I really regret getting the download version.

[sovereignstar]

Finally got sucked in and managed to take Serie C1B side Napoli to promotion in my first year. Okay, so the season isn't quite done yet, but my record is something like 23w-4d-1 and I believe if I get first in my division it's an automatic promotion (instead of playoffs). I'm still in the Coppa Italia C as well (quarterfinals). These things probably weren't the hardest tasks in the world, but this is the first time I've played the game.

Now to the tricky part. I was just offered a contract extension and it kind of blows. I'm making 2100 euros/week currently and this new 4-year deal will give me 1800 a week. Also, the transfer budget and wage budget are hardly increasing at all, which I can understand. We aren't making huge dollars right now and the team I've got is probably already close to being more of a Serie B side anyways.

Why are they offering me less wage though? They are ecstatic with my current performance, so that can't be it. I ended up delaying the deal and I've got until the end of the season to sign it. I really want to stay at Napoli and get them to Serie A, but not if they are gonna be totaly cheapasses.

Anyone got any advice or thoughts on the matter? Do I dare negotiate with them or do I not have enough bargaining power yet?

[MikeVick7]

A lot of it depends on how much money your team has. I mean no matter how good of a job you're doing, if the balance isn't high, then you're not going to get a raise, nor are they going to increase transfer or wage funds.

[Simms]

I started my career in the Slovakian 2nd Division making $22k per year. I got us promoted the first season and made money fairly steadily. My contract extension offer was for $20k per year, but with a slightly higher transfer budget. I had the same questions as far as why would they offer me less money. I did try to negotiate, but they (very politely, actually) told me they simply accomodate my demands (which was for $24k, iirc) until the club's financial status was more secure. I wanted to stay though, so I ended up taking their last offer.

When that contract was up two years later, they offered me a 3-year deal @ $70k per.

Like MikeVick said, it depends heavily on the club's overall financial status. If they're delighted with your performance, then it's probably a safe bet that they simply can't afford to pay you any more. Shouldn't hurt to ask though, again assuming you're on good terms with the Board.

[MikeVick7]

Whoa, had to put some life back in this thread.

Just had a question about the swap position function this year. Now I know what this does, but what exactly are the advantages of it? I thought I would be cool and have my wingers swap just like Chelsea is famous for but after a couple of seasons of doing this I started to wonder is this even helping me? Then I started getting paranoid about having my LW playing on the right half of the game (especially with the new patch) and wondered if he was even playing up to his full abilities on that side.

Anyway, thoughts?