Alright boyz, here we go!!! Football Manager 05 First impressions

[Godzilla Blitz]

Axxon: I think "balance" was a poor choice of words on my part. I was trying to get at the idea that the game engine and AI routines in CM 01/02 were polished to the degree that the game was harder than in CM 03/04. CM 03/04 was a Rubrics cube to me: difficult until I realized the "answer", then easy after that.

I never got that feeling in previous versions of CM. Playing with some basic LLM rules to make things more difficult (fictional players, hidden attributes, limited scouting, own tactics, etc.), I found CM 01/02 to be extremely challenging, and I had more than one game where I lost my job. The careers I ran with that version of the game (and CM 00/01) were some of the best gaming experiences I've had.

It's not that I didn't like CM 03/04, but that I felt the game engine and AI could have used another round of tweaking to tighten things up. And that's basically what I was trying to get at with my question: for those that have played 03/04, does the game AI/engine seem tighter and play a more competitive game?

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Aadik

One of the questions I have about FM is the transfer market- do stars move to the big clubs over time ? I've always found in CM that plays tend to be under ambitious- and the big clubs come in for your player rarely, and you can usually reject it. I'd like to see more player ambition/desire to move overall - it was one of the things that always bugged me about the older CM's./

Maybe your players just stink.

[DaddyTorgo]

Too excited to scroll down and see if this has already been reported: FM 2005 was sitting waiting for me when I just got home....signed delivery (priority shipping) from Gameplay. Boston, MA. Talk to you all...ohhh...in a good 3 weeks when I take my first break for a breath of air!!

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm so excited. The game arrived an hour ago, and my first career with FM2005 is loading now. I spent an hour fooling around with retain commands (I know you can do it in game, but the DDT file seemed easier in some way) and with some init.cfg commands. Now, my league is creating. I don't have hyperthreading, but I have a Pentium 4 2.2 Ghz with 512 MB. I was tolerating the speed in CM 03/04. I'll be really excited to see how the speed improvement is on this game once my career finishes initializing in a minute.

speaking of init.cfg, I wanted to ask, does the "ARSE" command still work?

If so, does anybody play with this command turned on?

I'm curious as I still don't have the game, but I want to be very ready when it gets to me, so I can start my first career as soon as I can

FM

[klayman]

Originally Posted by Axxon

Well, I realized we basically agree but I did want to clarify what the main point of my post was because there was a lot of stuff in my post you could have been referring to and I also clarified that I didn't doubt the point you made.

So, I'm taking it we agree then?

I don't remember now

[klayman]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

And that's basically what I was trying to get at with my question: for those that have played 03/04, does the game AI/engine seem tighter and play a more competitive game?

I think at this stage it is just too early to tell. There are conflicting reports (as always) on the SI Boards of the game being to easy/hard, but my own very limited experience has shown that it might be better than CM03/04 is in that regard.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

speaking of init.cfg, I wanted to ask, does the "ARSE" command still work?

If so, does anybody play with this command turned on?

I'm curious as I still don't have the game, but I want to be very ready when it gets to me, so I can start my first career as soon as I can

FM

According to the message boards, it is "DEBUG_MODE", but that doesn't seem to have worked for me as I can't view my chairman's profile. However, several boards state this command works.

[klayman]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

speaking of init.cfg, I wanted to ask, does the "ARSE" command still work?

If so, does anybody play with this command turned on?

I'm curious as I still don't have the game, but I want to be very ready when it gets to me, so I can start my first career as soon as I can

FM

The ARSE command is the same for the CM4 series which is "DEBUG_MODE" in the config file. I have it turned on, and it allows me to see my chairman's stats and player's dislikes that were not there on a previous game.

[klayman]

Hey!!! I was in the middle of a triple Dola post. How dare you steal my thunder!!!

[Eaglesfan27]

Sorry

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by klayman

The ARSE command is the same for the CM4 series which is "DEBUG_MODE" in the config file. I have it turned on, and it allows me to see my chairman's stats and player's dislikes that were not there on a previous game.

cool, thanks. What do you mean by "player's dislikes"?

FM

[klayman]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

cool, thanks. What do you mean by "player's dislikes"?

FM

hmm. You know what. I'm not really sure. I heard it on the SI Board, and when I started a new game recently, I noticed one of my players disliked another of my established stars at the start of the game, which I hadn't noticed previously. I thought that is what they were talking about on the SI Board, but now I'm thinking that it should be there without the debug mode or not. So I'm not sure if players start of with poor relationships with other players unless you're using the debug mode (I know they can develop poor relationships regardless, however).

[GoldenEagle]

Where is the cheapest place to order it from. GoGamer is charging $60, and I feel that is a bit too much.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

Where is the cheapest place to order it from. GoGamer is charging $60, and I feel that is a bit too much.

Unfortunately, with the weakness of the dollar right now, anything ordered from Europe is going to be expensive. You might be able to get it for $50 to $55 if you hunt around.

[GoldenEagle]

I wonder what the price will be Stateside? I do not think they could price it over $40. I think I will wait.

[Eaglesfan27]

Well, I just hit a bug that crashed my game and made me lose a month of game time (several hours real time) I know it was silly for me not to save more frequently. My autosave would have done its thing in just 2 game days as well.

I can't seem to navigate the SI forums well, so for the SI team this is what happened (also something for others to avoid):

I went to train one of my midfielders in playing the right side of the field (he was only rated at MC), but when I realized that it would change him to MR and he wouldn't be both MC and MR, I hit cancel. That is what seemed to trigger the error which said something to the effect of "array out of range" and then the game crashed and closed

Hopefully, this will be fixed with the first patch. Right now I'm discouraged as I just lost 4 big wins and my first manager of the month award.

[DaddyTorgo]

this game is owning my life now. I can't seem to do anything other than play. Everything else is...falling apart around me, but I don't care because my first career is going so well (given it's with Real Madrid...so sue me I enjoy playing with a big club for my first career to get a handle on the game's universe from the top-down so-to-speak). Another year or two with Madrid (3-4 more days at this rate??) and I'll trade them in for a smaller club. But....OMG is this game awesome. Thanks MV and SI!

[RPI-Fan]

I've ordered this; should get it early-to-mid next week. I plan on playing my first career with the USA National Team, since nobody else seems to have commented on the National Team Management over at the SI Boards - my goal will be to make the 2006 Semis in Germany - I might even do a mini-dynasty over here on my quest.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Is this right?

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=646041

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Is this right?

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=646041

Worldwide Soccer Manager is the name that Sega is going with in the North American release. It should be the same as Football Manager in Europe (except for the name of course)

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by scooter

Worldwide Soccer Manager is the name that Sega is going with in the North American release. It should be the same as Football Manager in Europe (except for the name of course)

Yeah, and if they're advertising Worldwide Soccer Manager, it will be the American release that will come at some point in Q1, 2005...

FM

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Yeah, and if they're advertising Worldwide Soccer Manager, it will be the American release that will come at some point in Q1, 2005...

FM

What happened to 11/30/04????

[scooter]

Pumpy's link lists 11/16/04. I seem to remember that the SI folks have been kind of hedging as to the NA release date, but that it would be later this month. Anyone checked the Sega site?

Edit: SEGA of USA's site lists 11/30/04 as the release date for Worldwide Soccer Manager in the US.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

What happened to 11/30/04????

that Q1 date came from the Gamespot news report from another thread here, the one asking if Sega is happy. That's where I took the possible American release date...

FM

[GoldenEagle]

I would love if it were released on 11/16/04 - maybe someone should email GameStop? I think I may do that.

[Eaglesfan27]

Pumpy if you don't want to wait (and don't mind paying 15 dollars extra) you can order Football Manager 2005 from gogamer, and have it in a few days. I just did a search for Football Manager on their site when I wanted to order.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I don't want to wait, but I also don't want to spend the extra $15 with ESPN College Hoops and Pirates coming out. I guess I'll just keep playing EverQuest 2 and Total Pro Basketball for a while, and then I'll grab FM sometime in December. Too many games!

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm also really excited about ESPN College Hoops coming out next week

You're right.. too many good games out now.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

I just hope ESPN College Hoops don't have any dynasty killing bugs like last year (I couldn't get past being unable to un-redshirt my center in the middle of the season.)

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm also really excited about ESPN College Hoops coming out next week

You're right.. too many good games out now.

This does seem to be like a great time for buying games. I seem to remember last holiday season being rather blah. It's good to see some quality again.

And if my Euro-FM isn't here by Monday, I'm going to throw a temper tantrum.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Well, I just hit a bug that crashed my game and made me lose a month of game time (several hours real time) I know it was silly for me not to save more frequently. My autosave would have done its thing in just 2 game days as well.

I can't seem to navigate the SI forums well, so for the SI team this is what happened (also something for others to avoid):

I went to train one of my midfielders in playing the right side of the field (he was only rated at MC), but when I realized that it would change him to MR and he wouldn't be both MC and MR, I hit cancel. That is what seemed to trigger the error which said something to the effect of "array out of range" and then the game crashed and closed

Hopefully, this will be fixed with the first patch. Right now I'm discouraged as I just lost 4 big wins and my first manager of the month award.

Sorry to hear that - I'll test it out tomorrow and ensure its fixed as soon as I can replicate it.

The release has been very stable generally and the feedback we've recieved so far has been largely positive.

We're beavering away of a patch at the moment which will (hopefully) be released in the near(ish) future and address the majority of issues raised ... unfortunately the bug in the real-world match engine which lead to the 5-4 scoreline in the Arsenal - Spurs match won't be rectified as part of this update

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Sorry to hear that - I'll test it out tomorrow and ensure its fixed as soon as I can replicate it.

The release has been very stable generally and the feedback we've recieved so far has been largely positive.

We're beavering away of a patch at the moment which will (hopefully) be released in the near(ish) future and address the majority of issues raised ... unfortunately the bug in the real-world match engine which lead to the 5-4 scoreline in the Arsenal - Spurs match won't be rectified as part of this update

Thanks for the reply Marc. I have the save file (from almost a month before the crash) if you need it, but I doubt it is universe specific. However, just let me know if you want me to zip it up and send it to you. I'm also glad to hear tha patch will hopefully be released in the nearish future

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Sorry to hear that - I'll test it out tomorrow and ensure its fixed as soon as I can replicate it.

The release has been very stable generally and the feedback we've recieved so far has been largely positive.

We're beavering away of a patch at the moment which will (hopefully) be released in the near(ish) future and address the majority of issues raised ... unfortunately the bug in the real-world match engine which lead to the 5-4 scoreline in the Arsenal - Spurs match won't be rectified as part of this update

Hey Marc.. while you're taking requests.. I'm getting a CTD in September of my 2nd season, when it sims out the final days of September (I'm New England in MLS). Can I upload a save somewhere that you can look at?

[FrogMan]

WOOHOO!!!!


The wife just called to tease me, no not the way you perv would think, but simply to tell me that a package saying "software" on it had just arrived in the mail, WOOT!!!!!

Sadly, there's still half a day of work to do and I have karate tonight, sigh... oh well, we'll find some time at some point

FM

[FrogMan]

dola, wanted to comment on the speed of mail. Not bad at all, gameplay shipped it on Wednesday November 3rd and it got to me on November 15th, so a little less than two weeks, with regular shipping...

FM

[Eaglesfan27]

Enjoy it tonight

[RPI-Fan]

I get to go pick mine up from FedEx tonite.

[bamcgee]

I'm playing as Roma, and the first thing on my to-do list was to get rid of Antonio Cassano, the supremely gifted jack-&ss. Barcelona put in a bid of $19mm plus 20% next sale, which I immediately accepted and turned it into Carlos Tevez at $11mm.

Now, the cool thing is that after the sale, the News read something like "Barcelona fans show discomfort at the signing of Roma's Antonio Cassano, fearing he could become disruptive to the team's chemistry." How could the fans know this, given that there is no rating for being a jack-&ss and all of his other ratings are fantastic? Unless there is a jack-&ss rating that isn't immediately obvious? Is Teamwork the indicator for this sort of thing, or does that only affect on-field performance?

Unfortunately he's got 5 goals in 2 matches (Tevez has 1), but it will be fascinating to watch what develops. What a great game.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by bamcgee

I'm playing as Roma, and the first thing on my to-do list was to get rid of Antonio Cassano, the supremely gifted jack-&ss. Barcelona put in a bid of $19mm plus 20% next sale, which I immediately accepted and turned it into Carlos Tevez at $11mm.

Now, the cool thing is that after the sale, the News read something like "Barcelona fans show discomfort at the signing of Roma's Antonio Cassano, fearing he could become disruptive to the team's chemistry." How could the fans know this, given that there is no rating for being a jack-&ss and all of his other ratings are fantastic? Unless there is a jack-&ss rating that isn't immediately obvious? Is Teamwork the indicator for this sort of thing, or does that only affect on-field performance?

Unfortunately he's got 5 goals in 2 matches (Tevez has 1), but it will be fascinating to watch what develops. What a great game.

Im my game, the owners sold Vieri to Roma. I just have sat back and let Adriano take over the show. He was hurt the last six months of the first season, but he's leading me to the trebel so far in the second season. I can't believe I wasn't fired for finishing 6th in the Serie A!

[RPI-Fan]

Could someone be so kind as to post here or PM me on how to do the following two things:

1) Run Windowed mode on a monitor that doesn't support it in-game
2) Activate the ARSE command or equivalent thereof (and cue me in as to what precisely it does).

TIA,
~rpi-fan

P.S. Anybody interested in a US National Team dynasty?

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Could someone be so kind as to post here or PM me on how to do the following two things:

1) Run Windowed mode on a monitor that doesn't support it in-game
2) Activate the ARSE command or equivalent thereof (and cue me in as to what precisely it does).

TIA,
~rpi-fan

P.S. Anybody interested in a US National Team dynasty?

Why don't you just ALT-TAB out?

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Why don't you just ALT-TAB out?

Because it messes up my taskbar sometimes - particularly in the middle of simming when it is most useful to do other programs.

[klayman]

Originally Posted by bamcgee

How could the fans know this, given that there is no rating for being a jack-&ss and all of his other ratings are fantastic? Unless there is a jack-&ss rating that isn't immediately obvious? Is Teamwork the indicator for this sort of thing, or does that only affect on-field performance?

There are hidden ratings for Controversy, Professionalism, and Temperment, among other things.

[klayman]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Could someone be so kind as to post here or PM me on how to do the following two things:

1) Run Windowed mode on a monitor that doesn't support it in-game
2) Activate the ARSE command or equivalent thereof (and cue me in as to what precisely it does).

TIA,
~rpi-fan

P.S. Anybody interested in a US National Team dynasty?

1. I'm not sure about this one. I think your resolution has to be 1280 x 1024 or higher to run windowed mode. If your monitor can't support that res, I wouldn't really recommend running the game in that mode then. However, that said, it is usually a command line after the program file that can force windowed mode. Something like -windowed. If you add it to the end of your fm2005.exe file that might work. No promises.

2. In the data folder there is a file with called init.cfg. Right click on it and make sure the read only box is unticked. Then open the file up with notepad. You'll see something along the lines of Chelsea "Suger Daddy" or something like that in there. Above that line enter in "DEBUG_MODE" with the quotes and hit return. Save the file. Start a new game.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by klayman

2. In the data folder there is a file with called init.cfg. Right click on it and make sure the read only box is unticked. Then open the file up with notepad. You'll see something along the lines of Chelsea "Suger Daddy" or something like that in there. Above that line enter in "DEBUG_MODE" with the quotes and hit return. Save the file. Start a new game.

What does doing that do? (I don't have the game)

[Eaglesfan27]

It is supposed to make it so you can see your chairman's stats, and negative comments about your players. I'm positive I entered it properly into my game, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working for me. However, I'm the only one I've heard of who has had that problem.

[Router Help]

Don't forget to delete the files in the INC folder as well. This restores correct names some French teams, the German national team, Oliver Kahn, and some others.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Router Help

Don't forget to delete the files in the INC folder as well. This restores correct names some French teams, the German national team, Oliver Kahn, and some others.

Can you clarify please? I thought we were supposed to put Germany in quotes as well as a few other countries (Japan and France maybe?) but I haven't heard about deleting any files.

[Sharpieman]

Can anyone tell me whats the difference betweeen standard shipping and the international priority shipping? Like how much faster the international shipping will be to the states?

[Chief Rum]

I tried to do this, but it didn't work in the game I loaded up.

I think I put it after "SUGER_DADDY", though, so does that matter?

I heard about the problems with Kahn, but I never heard about these possible solutions. Any more detail on if all files in INC should be removed, or these other words to toss in (:Germany" in quotes?) would be much appreciated.

As for the init.cfg file, I think the reason it may not have worked for me is because I have XP. It automatically appends the notepad three-letter designation at the end of files opened with Notepad, even if you tell it not to. So I don't think the game recognizes the file after I make changes to it.

I remember someone once had a downloadable init fiel for us XP users. It would be nice to see that again.

In any case, help with making sure I have the init file right would be much appreciated as well (I hate how I have to load up a whole new game to see if it works--that takes forever, even with smaller leagues/databases).

CR