Franchise Hockey Manager 4
FHM4 Hotfix, Version 4.7.86, Now Available
There were a few new potentially serious issues discovered after the release of the 4.7.80 update, so we decided to do one final hotfix to clear those up. We'd hoped to get it out a bit sooner, but isolating one crash in particular took a little longer than expected, and there were some complications with a lineup AI fix that took some time to resolve. This, barring any discoveries of game-breaking issues, will likely be the final FHM4 update. We'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.
Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves.
Changes and Additions:
-fixed interface crash that could occur when switching teams in the team menu
-fixed incorrect countering roles for offensive tactics
-1917-18 WCHL finances will now be converted to the correct values
-AI in 1917 (both roster moves assistant and the AI Setup Organization function) will no longer add more players than are allowed to team rosters
-SPHL teams will no longer sign players to $0 contracts
-the WSM-Liga playoffs should now re-seed properly after the first round
-teams promoted from the Czech WSM-Liga should no longer occasionally be placed in the Champions League the next season, instead of the correct qualifier.
-historical games starting in post-2005 (i.e. cap era) seasons should no longer have many teams behaving as if they're over the cap despite not having cap issues.
-Belarusian Extraliga should now generate a schedule properly in later seasons
-fixed city ID issue that was preventing the Beijing Olympics in 2022 from starting
-minor text/grammar fixes
FHM Update, Version 4.7.80, Now Available
This will be the final update for FHM4, barring any critical issues that require a small hotfix update in the future. It includes the final stage of the tactical role/line AI changes that have spanned the last couple of updates, updates the rosters to include the moves made at the NHL trading deadline, and a number of other changes. The tactics changes in particular may have a significant impact on your current games, so it'd be a good idea to take a close look at the strategy screen after you update.
We'll now transition over to beginning work on FHM5, but we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), and subreddit (reddit.com/r/FranchiseHockey) on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support, and we look forward to a showing you the new things we're planning for FHM5 in the coming months.
Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves.
Changes and Additions:
-database updated as of NHL trade deadline, many other minor changes and cleanup work also done, including expanding and improving draftable players eligible for the 2019-2021 NHL drafts
-significantly adjusted tactical role fit score calculations - you'll see a significant decrease in the number of players getting 5 as a fit score for a particular role. This may also result in significant shifts in which tactics are suitable for a team (with many players at the maximum score last time, it made it a little more difficult to distinguish what was best, since it was easier for players to fit more tactics.) If you're continuing a save, you may want to check the suitability ratings of your current tactics and consider shifting to something else (if not immediately, then in the offseason) if your current tactics don't look like such a good fit anymore
-historical games started in 2009 will no longer crash during setup
-potential crash on July 2 fixed
-fixed blank player name appearing in the depth chart top prospect list
-trade value of players who are in their last allowed year in a league (i.e. overagers in the CHL) is now set to nothing after that season ends, so they can't be traded to the AI in return for players/picks that are actually worth something during the weeks between the end of the playoffs and the beginning of a new season on July 1
-newly-created players edited to an AI-run team will no longer be stuck wearing #0 despite their preferences, they'll get a number assigned automatically upon being added to the team
-the icon for the All-Star game "award" on the player screen will now update properly to show the correct total number of ASG's the player has been in, and will give their years accurately
-players will no longer occasionally be submitted to the waiver list twice when waived, potentially leading to multiple claims
-players deleted from the database (e.g. as duplicates) should no longer appear in the game as nameless retired players
-NHL playoffs from 28-29 to 37-38 will no longer put the #1 team in the Canadian division in the spot belonging to the #3 team from that division in the opening series, in addition to its own regular spot against the American division winner, occasionally leading to the same team playing itself later in the playoffs (and the series consequently not being played)
-the Team Info screen should no longer crash due to retired number errors (the errors themselves will be fixed, but this should prevent future crashes when something goes wrong when they're edited in)
-the user's news subscriptions should update to his new league when his team is promoted or relegated
-fixed incorrect first pair defenceman role requirement for the offensive tactics "Stay in Your Lanes!" and "The Funnel"
-goalie of the year award (and postseason all-star team goalie selection) formula changed to reduce importance of shutouts and add save percentage weighting
-NHL entry-level player contracts for 18-19-year-old players should now slide properly if the player plays in the AHL or ECHL (possible if he's drafted from Europe/NCAA) and doesn't play 10 NHL games that season
-custom league expansion drafts now use the default NHL expansion draft eligibility rules rather than making all players, even rookies and just-drafted players, eligible
-fixed possible crash with a particular custom league setup
-fixed issue where AI had trouble building lines for small rosters (e.g. early historical) if several dual forward/defencemen-type players were present
-fixed issue where the load game screen would show a save with the name ".", and deleting that would remove all the contents of the save folder
-starting point totals in second stage of Suomi-Sarja season should now be carried over from the first stage
-corrected problem where a Stanley Cup win in early historical years may not be credited properly in end of season results and achievements
-storylines that create player injuries should no longer trigger the news story for an off-ice injury as well as their own news item, leading to two different descriptions of how the injury occurred
-when managing and international team, all tactics will no longer show a suitability of 5
-players in a league's main nation should now never be considered foreigners, even if their team is based elsewhere
-fixed issue with play-by-play events on the in-ggme screen for away teams not being shown on correct side
-fixed issue where AHL developmental player rules were still being applied to teams after their season ended, preventing a user-run AHL team from advancing if some of his younger players went on international duty
-top goalie/postseason all-star goalie formula added a qualifier to eliminate from consideration goalies who didn't play many games
-fixed issue that could result in user in GM-only game moving into GM/Coach mode despite still having a head coach on his team
-fixed rare issue where a player could be assigned to a under-19 farm team despite being well over the age limit
-fixed potential crash in early September when user has become unemployed in recent months
-AHL captains will no longer need to be re-chosen if one of them passes through NHL waivers at the start of a new season
-fixed trade proposal PM so it doesn't call the buttons below the message "the controls above."
-custom league with 16-team playoffs should now give home advantage to the higher seed correctly in later rounds
-the playoff screen in the historical years the NHL is using the 1v3 and 2v4 system should now label the seeds correctly
-minor text and grammar fixes
FHM Update, Version 4.6.75, Now Available
We went a little heavier on the fixes this time, so there's less new content than the Christmas update - although we did add a few small new things as well as doing the usual roster update (Vegas, for those who've been asking, is playing signficantly better now.) In particular, we think we've made some major inroads in fixing some ongoing stability issues with the interface. We'll be doing one more major update for FHM4, likely appearing in early March in order to get all the final NHL trading deadline moves in (although it's also possible we may release some smaller fixes as well, if necessary.) The ongoing work on AI line and roster selection will be continuing; a major fix in this update related to players playing out of their primary position required some time to evaluate properly, so it wasn't a good idea to get as aggressive with the changes as we'd hoped; there'll be more coming in that area next time. Once that's all done, we'll be moving on to FHM5 development. As usual, we'll be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.
Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves.
Changes and Additions:
-interface crashes when attempting to click on player names fixed
-added exit autoplay option to stop the game when players above a specified level become available on waivers in the user's league (defaults to stopping for all waivers, a threshold can be set to only show players at or above 1/2/3/4/5 stars)
-rosters updated to (approximately) January 21
-a large amount of historical draft data for many leagues has been added. Not completely implemented in historical mode yet after running into some issues there, but it'll be coming soon
-Olympic breaks from 2018 schedules removed from schedule files used for non-Olympic years, should prevent the scheduling conflicts with international tournaments that were happening in later seasons in some leagues
-NHL all-star game no longer stops being scheduled if league is expanded
-fixed problem with the NHL draft lottery in expansion years that prevents the lowest-ranked teams from receiving the top pick
-lineup selection AI now checks position-adjusted fit score for players before choosing them for a line (had been using the pre-position adjustment value, which led to players with low position scores being selected for those positions)
-fixed records file setup in the current rosters quickstart, so records and leaders will now generate and be updated properly in games started using Current Rosters
-expansion teams should now have leaders/records recorded correctly
-the Swiss National League relegation final no longer stops after 4 games, regardless of results
-the Champions Hockey League Group 5 schedule is no longer unbalanced
-fixed Bruins historical challenge achievement (was requiring 4 cups instead of 3)
-II-divisioona teams finishing high enough in the Suomi-Sarja/II-D relegation tournament should now be promoted properly
-fixed situation where ex-KHL player waived by NHL team could be claimed on waivers by KHL teams
-fixed Pittsburgh historical challenge trigger conditions
-in the in-game stats display, all of the columns should now be sortable.
-young players who were in college in the start year of a new historical game should now be unsigned (but their NHL rights owned) instead of starting with a contract (won't work for all of them, some data needs to be added to the db to identify them as college players, which will take a while because it has to be edited in player-by-player)
-AI will be less likely to choose a low priority for the "Start the Best Goalie" criteria if he has a high-quality goalie (even if the backup is also very good)
-the NHL playoff tree used from 1928-1938 should organize the opening round series a little better, so the 2v3 series are on the same side as each other
-player rights in nonplayable leagues that use rights will no longer occasionally show rights belonging to a team in a different league
-fixed issue with users getting job offers with negative salary values (usually from low-level leagues)
-fixed potential crash when clicking on a line in the staff history of a GM in a historical game
-Stanley Cup achievement should now be awarded correctly when the Cup win also completes a historical challenge achievement at the same time
-sorting for stats views should no longer get reset when the user clicks on a player and then returns to the stats screen using the back button
-Suomi-Sarja award winners should no longer be named while playoffs are still underway; leading scorer award will also not show up multiple times in winner's history
-the CHL-type (i.e. Western/Ontario/Quebec leagues) in custom games is now available again for league setups that don't use the NHL format for the top league
-fixed issue causing the power play 4on3 LD spot to show 1/x for most players and tactical roles
-fixed problem with historical mode where defunct NHL teams could appear as options for the user to take over during setup, and, if the setup was continued, would sign players and make trades (but not play games)
-issue with RFA's with open offers being selected in expansion draft, then the expansion team being unable to match the offer (reported fixed in 4.5.59, but is apparently still occurring) should be fixed properly now
-news stories about teams winnin multi-league tournaments (Champions League, Memorial Cup) should now user the name of the tournament instead of their home league
-in the team history skater stats, goalies should now get their GP added after the start of the game
-sorting one of the leaders views in the team home screen should no longer break subsequent attempts at sorting that list
-numbering on the in-game shot chart seems to be showing now correctly shows the shot number iustead of the overall event number
-goals now shown in gold text in the highlights section of the in-game view
-CHL import draft now properly alternates picks through the leagues
-the "edit league and playoff rules" in the custom setup now allows the number of penalty shots to be specified
-right-click option to dress/scratch players will no longer occasionally become inaccessible
-discount the trade AI applied to overage players in junior leagues has been significantly reduced, so the AI will no longer give up these players so cheaply
-player buyouts in leagues that have a cap and also allow mid-season buyouts will no longer result in cap penalties in subsequent seasons
-AHL, ECHL, and SPHL historical stats re-imported to fix some issues with players stats being assigned to the wrong team
-reduced trade valuation for "iron curtain rule" players in historical games, so the AI can't be exploited by offering it superstars who are years away from being able to play
-2017 draft no longer empty in historical games
-historical games started in 2016 will no longer have all previous draft data missing
-potential historical crashes on July 1 in 1927 and 1978 fixed
-fixed crash when watching Memorial Cup games that go into overtime
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FHM4 Hotfix Update 4.5.66 Released
This hotfix corrects a single issue with NHL-contracted players loaned to the three CHL junior leagues (WHL, OHL, and QMJHL.) In 4.5.65, these players weren't being returned to their NHL team at the end of the season, eventually leading to them becoming free agents when they became too old to play junior hockey. We've corrected the problem; the fix will also apply to existing games started in 4.5.65 or earlier. However, if you happen to be between June 23 and June 30 in your current save, a small group of players affected by the problem may become free agents on June 30. If this is the case, you may want to consider returing to a slightly earlier version of your save by copying the contents of either the RS_ONE or RS_TWO rolling save folders (whichever files are most recent) into the main folder for that save, which will return your game to the second-to-last time you saved it. Alternately, if you can enable commissioner mode, you could move the affected players to their NHL team manually by editing them.
FHM4 Update, Version 4.5.65, Now Available!
This update is the first one where we've been able to add a significant amount of new content: updated rosters, a new playable league, some interface changes, the 2018-19 NHL/AHL/ECHL changes, and a variety of other things, some of which we've mentioned on the forum already. In addition to that, we've continued to make fixes and adjustments to various issues that have come to our attention.
The update has been stable in testing for a while now, but we'll be watching carefully in the next few days for any reports of major issues. If necessary, we'll issue a hotfix for any serious problems before breaking for the holidays. Some of the team will be taking a break after Christmas, but we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support. The next update after this (aside from any hotfix) will probably be similar to this one in terms of the time frame required to produce it and the content level.
Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves.
Changes and Additions
-Current Rosters startup option added; these rosters are as of December 11 (for the NHL, up to and including the Dowd-Subban trade.) If you want to use the opening night rosters, they're still available as an option at startup; however, going forward, the Current Rosters start will be the version of the database that gets all the updates and additions. Note for those making and installing mods: the Current Rosters start is in a new quickstart folder, Current.quick. Existing uniform/logo/facegen mods will need to be added to the Current.quick\graphics folder to work with the new start. Copying the \graphics folder from OpeningDay.Quick is the simplest way to do this. Mod makers who've posted to the Steam workshop may want to create a second version of their (non-historical) mods that installs to the correct folder.
-Added "Suitability" indicator on the team tactics popup to show how well-suited each tactic is to the team. The scale is the same 1-5 dots as Familiarity, but note that this rating is only measuring which tactics will work best for the team - not how well they will execute the tactic in relation to their league. The best tactic for a bad team will show a 5, but the team probably won't be as good executing it as a great team whose suitability for that tactic is rated as a 3. The distinctions between suitability levels may also be fairly small; generally, it's not a serious risk to use anything rated 3 or above if you think it really fits what you want to do with the team. 1-2 are the only ones you should really steer away from.
-WSM Liga (Czech second level) is now playable, so all of the Big 4 European hockey powers now have at least two levels of playable leagues. The two playoff semifinal winners join the lowest-ranked Extraliga teams in the promotion/relegation tournament; the lowest-ranked team is relegated and replaced with a team from the third level.
-Real-life 2018-19 changes to the St. Louis/Vegas/Colorado AHL/ECHL affiliate situation will happen when the game reaches July 1, 2018: The Colorado Eagles of the ECHL will move to the AHL, playing in the Central Division. They will become the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche, replacing the San Antonio Rampage. The San Antonio Rampage will become the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. The Maine Mariners will be added as a new ECHL franchise (technically, in real life they're a continuation of the inactive Alaska franchise, but for the purposes of this update they needed to have a fresh team record). They'll be Colorado's ECHL affiliate, replacing the Eagles. Chicago will remain the Vegas AHL affiliate.
-Added 20 new storylines and rewrote portions of others.
-Russia removed from the 2018 Olympics and replaced with Belarus (KHL players will participate.) It looks like the Russians may be able to compete in a neutral uniform, but there's no easy way to do that in-game without a lot of special coding, and with the situation seemingly changing on a week-to-week basis right now it doesn't make sense to make that kind of effort for a one-time thing. If something substantially changes regarding Russian/KHL participation before the next update, we'll make more changes.
-Substantially rebuilt the ratings requirements data for each tactical role. This is a step in a major adjustment to the line-building AI; the immediate results won't be too obvious (and in some cases may actually appear to regress a bit, although in practice, even when this occurs the player usage should be relatively realistic), but it'll enable us to make further changes in the next update(s) knowing that this aspect of the system has been stabilized.
-Added an option (in the Settings menu of the Start screen) to turn the UI highlighting of a team's name in all-caps off.
-When an NHL team attempts to return an import player to a CHL team who is at the import limit, the team will either make room for him or release his CHL rights, allowing him to be sent to the minors.
-Added some new ways for AI GM's in leagues that use transfers to make transfer deals, particularly for import players if they're not using all of their import spots.
-Fixed potential crash when clicking on a line in the staff history of a GM.
-Possible schedule conflict between Karjala Cup tournament and Champions League games fixed.
-Added a warning that playing in Do Not Disturb mode while employed will skip the annual performance review unless it's turned off on June 30.
-The new rookie all-star team "award" news item no longer lists the first all-star team instead.
-Fixed alignment of the "Totals" line at the bottom of the team history screen.
-In leagues where no points are awarded for an overtime loss (e.g. historical NHL in 1996-97), the home/road records no longer double-count the loss.
-Fixed potential crash if user accepts multiple international job offers.
-Adjusted historical finances file so shop player option will work in post-2005 games and starting salaries levels for good/great players in the most recent seasons are higher. There may still be some issues with teams starting under the cap in those years, that'll be improved in the next update.
-No-trade and no-movement clauses should now be applied correctly to human-AI trade negotiations.
-Shop Player option no longer available for players with a No-Trade/No-Movement clause.
-Replaced the linked player names in the "Players Need to be Assigned Numbers" PM with the non-linked versions to avoid confusion over where to change the number.
-Adjusted development speed for players who are likely to have long careers - had been too slow, particularly noticeable in historical.
-Adjusted number and type of European players that choose to play major junior (slightly more and better players now); also customized the chances for the major countries rather than a single generic chance to better reflect typical CHL import draft composition as of 2017.
-Increased quality requirement for non-North American players to get the Major Junior junior preference.
-Fixed alignment issues and inconsistent linking of team names on the transactions page.
-Changed the power play strategy screen labels for "Point" and "Defender" changed to "Left Point" and "Right Point" to clarify that a forward will work in either.
-Fixed job offers to the user with $0 or negative salary in custom games.
-Lowered the likelihood of players to refuse to move to a different continent.
-Fixed sorting of remaining contract years on roster screen when a player has signed an extension.
-Leader screen and the overall leaderboards screen will no longer occasionally replace the name of a player who retired during the game with another random player.
-NHL all-star game will no longer be announced on an incorrect date that conflicts with the schedule.
-GM of the Year award criteria adjusted to avoid problem with a small number of long-time GM's dominating the award in short-season leagues.
-Fixed board confidence email description of "disappointing" results when the user wins promotion to a higher league.
-Fixed situation where player will refuse a contract offer or request less money after the player has already met his demands, eventually leading to an error message in his response.
-AI-run NHL teams in modern games should no longer release/waive some recent mid/low-round drafted players while they're still under 20.
-Previous change to slow skater development once it approaches potential tuned down slightly to increase number of players making it to higher skill levels.
-Fixed colour of date text on the league schedule screen to make it readable (had been white on very bright background).
-The Assistant: Create Lines AI should now correctly use players with a forward/defence position (e.g. LW/LD) on a defensive pair if he fits best there.
-Slowed goalie fitness recovery slightly.
-Fixed issue that could result in the same NHL-contracted player being returned to his CHL team repeatedly.
-In the Team Defending Leaders section of the league home page, the SH Goals Against leaders are now displayed correctly instead of showing PP Goals Against.
-If the user is playing GM-only, the dress/scratch and "replace player with" right-click options are now greyed out, since the AI coach will always make his own choices.
-Fixed issue in historical game setup that could result in players not being given their correct uniform number.
-Adjusted trade AI to discourage rebuilding teams from accepting offers for their good young forwards for veterans.
-Players will no longer occasionally refuse to negotiate contract extensions by saying "I'm not interested in further negotiation" as if negotiations had broken off, despite it being the user's first attempt at offering them a new contract.
-The Central Scouting ranking now correctly classifies High School and Junior B players in the North American list, rather than the European one.
-Longer text blocks in assign numbers popup are no longer cut off at the bottom.
-All open contract offers are cancelled when a player is exposed in an expansion draft, to prevent a situation where an expansion team would have to match the original team's offer as if the player had signed an offer sheet.
-Fixed excessive reputations of unemployed staff at the start of the game.
-Older head coaches will no longer occassionally retire the same day they're hired.
-Teams should no longer occasionally re-hire the coach they just fired.
-Players who played with more than one team in their real rookie year and had playoff stats will no longer occassionally start a historical game with those playoff stats shown as real stats for the upcoming season.
-The "Assistant Coach" box in the staff screen can now be assigned by the owner instead of being automatically filled.
-Changes to the NCAA League Rights on the player edit screen now remain saved after saving and exiting the screen.
-In a custom game with 18 teams, 2 conferences, and 4 divisions, in the first round of the playoffs the #1 and #4 teams in one conference are no longer in the same side of the bracket as the #2 and #3 from the other conference, and vice-versa - the conferences stay separate until the final, i.e. 1v4 and 2v3 on each side in round 1 should be from the same conference.
-Longer shootouts will no longer be cut off or overlapped in the postgame box score.
-Fixed issue that caused a small number of players to be generated with birth years of 0 (so age 2017) at the start of a new game.
-The day prior to the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL drafts (June 23), all overage players will now be removed from AI-run teams as if it's July 1 (if they're NHL-contracted, they're returned to their owning team), and the rights to any unsigned players who are overage are also be removed so the AI will have more room to draft new players, resulting in fewer skipped draft picks due to protected list size issues.
-Slightly increased chance for goalie hotness reductions in games where they give up several goals.
-Clicking on team names of U17/U18 national teams in news stories no longer takes you to CHL team pages.
-In leagues that allow transfers, the post-transfer-deadline period has been extended from the deadline until July 1, instead of transfers being allowed again as soon as the season ends.
-If the NHL expands to 32 teams, the news item announcing the NHL draft order no longer shows 33 picks in the first round.
-If, while unemployed, you start autoplaying the day the NHL All-Star game is played, the ASG summary will no longer appear on every day's results screen as if it had just been played.
-The leader page for the World U17 Hockey Challenge now appears after the first game of the tournament instead of waiting until after each team plays their second game.
-Nationality requirements should now be applied correctly to storylines, e.g. European players will no longer get storylines designed for American players only.
-Adjusted stats generation for nonplayable leagues to fix issue with too many players getting 0 PIM in a season.
-Salary levels for above-average KHL players reduced.
-Possible fix for player UI crashes (e.g., first time you click on a player after starting a new game, there's a crash).
-Conditions for player nationality switches (i.e. second nationality becomes first) restricted, they'll only happen if the player is 23+ and is switching in a way that makes him more likely to play on a national team, i.e. switching to a weaker team.
-Criteria for news stories about high-profile injuries should now be applied correctly so 1.5 star players aren't referred to as "stars".
-If a player is injured and you immediately replace him in the lineup before advancing to the next day, you'll no longer get the popup warning to check your lineup when you attempt to advance, even though you've already fixed the empty spots.
-When a CHL team signs an import player from a user-run European team, the user will get notification of the signing in his news.
-Overall loss totals in leagues with overtime, but 0 points for overtime losses, should be shown correctly now.
-The offers from the shop player in CHL leagues should be less generous and more reasonable now.
-The DGR column on the roster screen should now sort properly at all stages of the season.
-VAC status will now end properly if a player with it is claimed on waivers by a team whose season is started.
-The contract generation for players during historical setup will now give fewer players entry-level contracts (should only be the youngest ones now.)
-The "big game" news can now describe tie games properly, so a good player result in a tie won't be referred to in the text as e.g. a "2-2 loss."
-Corrected conditions for completing Blues historical challenge.
-Winning the Kings challenge will no longer give the user the Panthers in-game (i.e., non-Steam) achievement
-True Franchise Manager achievement (10 years with one team) conditions fixed for some non-NHL leagues
-Some players in Ivan Hlinka Cup will no longer start with 1% fitness.
-Fixed problem with storyline conditions that require a losing streak not triggering properly.
-Various minor text and UI fixes.
FHM Update, Version 4.4.56, Now Available
This is the first update with a significant amount of non-bugfix level changes. We're still making those small fixes and adjustments (and have more to go), but the long-requested player comparison screen has been added, some noticeable performance improvements have been made, as well as a big under-the-hood change to the way historical player ratings are handled. Bug reports have dropped off significantly in the last couple of weeks, so it looks like we'll now be able to spend more time on adding content and other projects that require more coding and testing time; we've got a few things in mind in addition to the stuff that's commonly come up on the forums. That being the case, the next update (aside from any needed hotfixes to this one) will likely be a month or more away, targeted for sometime in the pre-Christmas period.
As always, we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.
Changes:
-Player Comparison screen added (right-click on a player to get the option to compare one player to another)
-rewrote certain functions to decrease processing time, should increase speed of a full modern season with all leagues active by 9-10 minutes on a fast system
-fixed issue with a large number of guys being created with the last name "Unknown" in modern games
-in the Injuries section of the pregame and postgame reports, all injuries are no longer are being shown in the "Out" category - players with minor injuries (i.e., orange cross instead of red) should be listed under "Day-to-Day"
-reduced long delay when processing the "signable" filter
-the NHL playoff historical rules for 1998-2012 should now give home ice in the finals to the correct (more regular-season points) team
-in games that get "sim to start date" (e.g. modern with user employed from the start), injuries in the presets.txt file should have their duration reduced properly at the end of the simming
-the user's team is now highlighted in all-caps on the league screens (standings, leaders, etc.)
-players who have signed a contract extension in their current league, then are drafted and signed by an NHL team later in that season, will no longer have the previous extension still active, preventing them from being re-signed when the NHL contract ends
-development report will no longer show forwards occasionally getting +1 to LD or RD (this was actually just a display issue, they weren't really getting the increase)
-players in the CHL leagues (or the junior league in fictional games) who are under contract to NHL/top league teams should now change teams properly when traded within the junior league, instead of only their rights switching
-the "Not enough players to create lineup" now includes the name of the team with the problem
-when the user is in GM/HC mode and attempts to sign a head coach, he will now get a warning/confirm popup informing him that this will put the game in GM-only mode
-Champions League games should no longer occasionally show Montreal's arena as the location of the game
-fixed crash that could happen when attempting to manage players on Orlando of the ECHL
-custom games should now create and retain leaderboards/single-game records properly
-no longer possible to exploit the trade AI by adding low-value players to the other team's offer to reduce its overall value
-fixed issue causing Game Ratings to occasionally disappear from the roster screen
-adjusted waiver system slightly to fix incorrect first contract year for players who played 10+ AHL games while junior-aged (e.g. Tyler Bertuzzi)
-sorting the roster by game rating should now work properly when in the playoffs
-in custom league playoffs, home ice advantage now correctly given to team with best regular-season record
-scouting report should no longer repeat lines
-the pregame notes sections "players playing against their former team" and "players visiting their hometown" should now work properly
-fixed occasional blank spots appearing in the goalie spots in user's team's depth chart
-tactical advantage scores will no longer occasionally show incorrect, unchanging values during games
-fixeed issue that could cause incorrectly-sized fonts on Macs
-clicking the "take over" box on the expansion popup no longer crashes the game
-fixed potential error with Finnish Liiga schedule that could put one team into the playoffs in two different spots
-the action menu on the staff screen for trainers should work properly now
-fixed issue that could cause players signing ELC's in June to get wrong number of years on ELC and start contract too early
-the Team (Info) screen no longer shows the wrong abbreviation in the Team Info box (it was fixed earlier for the draft picks, but not in Team Info)
-lowered physical ratings of very old players at the start of custom games and adjusted the age range generation so there are fewer of them
-the "unused players" section of the post-game report should now correctly list players who dressed but didn't play
-corrected 2003-04 historical data so reserve list does not shrink for NHL teams in that season
-corrected 1933-34, 34-35, and 35-36 minor league roster sizes being too small
-changes in historical player generation at startup and season recalc that'll allow us to better represent player careers that weren't smooth up-and-down curves. Basically, the new system overrides the default ratings calculation for them with something more accurate for a particular anomalous season. It's going to take a long time to get the data adjusted for every player whose modelling will be helped by this, so right now the only players affected are the following guys we used as test cases because they had seasons that were good candidates for this system: Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya, Scott Bjugstad, Jim Carey, Ken Hodge, Bill Cowley, Jose Theodore, Jonathan Cheechoo, Ken Dryden, Alexandre Daigle, Frank Boucher, Howie Morenz, Johnny Bower, Al Rollins, Chris Chelios. This change will be most noticeable if annual recalculation (instead of the regular development system) is turned on, and during the first season of either type of historical game (i.e., if you start in 2001, Theodore will be the MVP-quality Theodore of that season, instead of the career-average version you would previously get and Chelios will be the 40+ point near-Norris winner instead of the less productive guy he'd been in the prior seasons, and if you have annual recalculation on Kariya and Selanne will have their bad 2003-04 season when you get to that point.)
-several adjustments made to the goalie start system: the "after shutout" check no longer considers shutouts that were in a previous season stage, i.e. a shutout in the last preseason game is ignored when checking the first game of the regular season; random element decreased slightly; the calculation used to determine which goalie is "best" is now the same one used to determine the starter (which includes a few considerations besides talent, e.g. there's an allowance for potential)
-the top RD position in the penalty kill 4 on 5 strategy screen and goalies in the 5 on 5 screen now work properly with click-selection
-Hall of Fame announcement message should no longer show picture of another player
-bridge contract frequency reduced again, and discount cut significantly
-all-rookie team should now be announced properly
-fixed occasional issue with only being able to sign 29 (instead of 30) players while managing a CHL team
-fixed issue that could prevent the Tsujimoto achievement from being awarded
-changed the requirements for the "good game" and "bad game" sections of the postgame reports so more players will be named
-fixed some spelling errors in the default skin's stylesheet
-various smaller text and UI fixes
-updated database to include contributions from researchers up to November 12 (note that this isn't a roster update that reflects current trades, just revisions and corrections that won't change the opening night rosters.)
FHM Update, Version 4.3.49, Now Available
There were a few stability issues we were able to resolve this week, none quite so urgent to merit an immediate maintenance update, but still serious enough that we'd rather not wait a couple of weeks or more to get the fixes to you. So, this update is a bit of a middle-ground between a maintenance and full update, mainly focused on clearing up a few things that could cause crashes or other potential game-stopping problems, as well as a few smaller fixes and ease-of-use changes that we were able to fit in safely. Assuming we don't run into any urgent problems with this version, we'll be taking a little more time to work on larger changes and additions and get them through a proper testing cycle - i.e., don't expect another update next Friday.
As always, we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.
Changes:
-"Sim to Period End" button removed due to stability issues (still possible to get the same sim speed by switching the play by play and clock speeds to very fast with a lower level watch mode, e.g. no highlights or goals)
-in-game settings are now stored and don't need to be reset each game
-sound volume adjustment added to in-game options
-after a sudden death goal the "Finish Game" button now appears instead of requiring the user to hit sim/play again
-fixed potential crash that could be caused when taking over team between the end of the season and the season review on June 30
-fixed issue where the was still a chance of users being involuntarily retired in historical mode
-fixed issue that could prevent Swedish Hockey League from generating a schedule in 2018-19 (fix will apply retroactively to saves from prior to June 30, 2018)
-schedule generator should now be used after all NHL expansions, instead of using pre-set schedule with an early start date at some sizes
-"World Champions" achievement now awarded after winning the Division I World Championship with Canada/USA
-fixed transaction error that could lead to crash
-fixed potential crash due to roster issues with nonplayable teams promoted into playable leagues
-Memorial Cup winner should now be named correctly in post-tournament news and player histories
-game will no longer crash when switching between leagues in a historical game while looking at the league edit screen
-fixed issue with multiple games being scheduled for team on the same day for some European teams (due to CHL)
-newly-generated players should now be given preferred numbers correctly
-the finances page in historical games should now convert all amounts to historical equivalents correctly
-the player ages in the starting rosters of fictional mode junior leagues should now be distributed more evenly, preventing weak 2nd/3rd-year drafts
-European players who want to play major junior should no longer reject contract offers from CHL teams
-the buttons on the news screen should no longer occasionally disappear and be replaced by the old action dropdown
-when renewing a player's contract, if the date is after December 31 the first year shown under "Year by Year Salary" in the Contract Offer section of the negotiation screen will no longer show a season that's a year too late
-the Trainer Skill attribute is now listed on the staff edit screen
-minor text and formatting changes
There are no data changes in this update, other than a few small adjustments to team data that were required to fix a particular crash.
FHM Update, Version 4.2.46, Now Available
This is the second major update for FHM4, addressing more issues that have been reported since release. There's likely to be a longer gap between this update and the next one unless a maintenance update is required to fix urgent problems; we'll need the additional time to make larger changes and additions and get them through a proper testing cycle.
As always, we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.
Changes:
-more adjustments to the lineup and player role selection system, should allow the AI to choose better tactic combinations as well as fixing the most serious remaining issues with line selection. Note: unlike the previous update, most of these changes are coding-related and not dependent on data, so they'll work immediately in saved games. However, we did also make some small data adjustments to the tactics and tactical roles, so if you want to get the full effect of those particular changes in an existing game, you can add their effects to a save by copying the files "tactics.dat" and "player_roles.dat" from the \Documents\Out of the Park Developments\Franchise Hockey Manager 4\quickstart_games\OpeningDay.quick folder to your save folder (i.e., the folder in saved_games with the .lg extension and the name of your saved game), overwriting the versions of the files that are currently there.
-fixed issues with creating a lineup and line selection in leagues with very low roster limits (e.g. the NHL in 1917) - note that the AI Setup Organization, Dress Players, and Create Lines functions all require that there be enough players on the roster to create a full lineup in order to function properly
-getting a popup warning (e.g. Healthy player on IR list) on the same day you get the season summary/season score popup will no longer prevent you from closing the warning popup
-goalies will no longer win the rookie of the year award every year (caused by changes to ROY games played criteria in last update)
-all players passed over in the NHL Draft should now be signable as free agents by NHL teams within the alloweed time period before the new season starts (i.e., undrafted CHL players must be signed before the WHL/OHL/QMJHL season starts)
-alumni lists should no longer display a few players who were never on that team
-value of older players in trades decreased a little more
-relative influence of the "Always start a goalie again after a shutout" criteria for goalie starts lowered
-bonuses from highest end of the goalie heat scale reduced slightly, should lower shutout frequency to a more normal level
-fixed issue that could lead to Champions League group stage teams playing each other an incorrect number of times
-scouts on permanent assignments can now have their reporting frequency changed - it won't revert back to the original value
-players who play in the Ivan Hlinka tournament no longer occasionally getting their VAC status stuck after the tournament ends
-the NHL will no longer have a February schedule break (and no all-star game) in 2022 and later Olympic years
-player scouting screen will no longer call players "very durable" when they have very high injury proneness ratings
-players will no longer occasionally get their number reversed (e.g. 91 to 19) at the start of game despite the preferred number being available
-postseason all-star team now uses the same criteria as the top goalie award for goalies, so the 1st All-Star goalie will always be the Top Goalie winner
-offer sheet compensation for NHL RFA's updated to the exact 2017-18 values
-missing Vegas helmet files added
-player-requested number changes re-enabled (had been temporarily disabled to avoid a crash issue, since fixed)
-the "meet demand" button in the negotiation screen no longer double-counts the current offer to the player when determining remaining available budget for the team
-CHL team trade windows screen no longer showing draft picks from previous years after the first season
-CHL import draft picks no longer also getting traded when regular picks are traded
-fixed errors in the ability and potential sections of the player scouting screen - players should now be compared to someone more appropriate for the comparison being made
-fixed potential crash if user quits international job during tournament
-Hall of Fame induction announcements no longer stop after 2018
-the "owner must approve coach firings" requirement is now disabled for the human player if commissioner mode is turned on
-historical games started before 1945 no longer begin with four pre-NHL players in the Hall of Fame
-the check to see if players gain a new nationality no longer counts 0-GP seasons as a year in that country
-no-trade clause and no-movement clause boxes in contract offers are now mutually exclusive, both can't be checked at once (player negotiation AI can't recognize NMC if NTC is also active)
-fixed issue with fit score display in the "Defender" slot for power play units that was showing LD with lower fit scores (internally, the correct value was still being used, issue was display-only)
-expanded NHL now uses generated rather than pre-created schedule, should avoid much earlier start dates that could e.g. conflict with World Cup
-various small text and interface changes and database adjustments
FHM Update, Version 4.1.40, Now Available
This is the first major update for FHM4, and addresses the biggest outstanding problems reported after release. There are many other fixes and changes we still want to make, but the most critical things we could address in the space of a week are dealt with here. We're likely going to be looking at one or two more updates that are primarily bug-fixing before we can move on to making new additions (or other major changes that require extensive testing) to the game.
As always, we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.
Changes in 4.1.40:
-roster data updated, NHL rosters are the opening-night versions (aside a few small additions/changes to represent last-minute moves properly)
-some tactics and tactical role requirements adjusted significantly; should significantly reduce or eliminate the problem with goons/checking forwards getting placed on top lines and good players on lower lines
[B]IMPORTANT NOTE:[/B] [I]these changes will not automatically apply to existing saves. However, you can add their effects to a save by copying the files "tactics.dat" and "player_roles.dat" from the \Documents\Out of the Park Developments\Franchise Hockey Manager 4\quickstart_games\OpeningDay.quick folder to your save folder (i.e., the folder in saved_games with the .lg extension and the name of your saved game), overwriting the versions of the files that are currently there. Note that while the while this will immediately affect the way the AI chooses its lineup, it may take up to one season for it to use the new data to choose better tactics for AI-run teams.)[/I]
-tactical role fit scores adjusted to increase the penalties for players playing at their non-20-rated position, making it less likely for the AI to use players out of position
-first NHL expansion will now add only one team instead of two (also fixes AHL/ECHL scheduling problem for expansion team affiliates and the missing farm teams for one of the new expansion teams)
-the waiver warning PM a human NHL player receives right before the start of the season now displays those players properly instead of being blank
-AI in top-level league in custom games should now send younger players to the minors instead of keeping them in the main roster, and top-level leagues are no longer forced to return junior-aged players to the junior league
-possible refusal of two-way contract by entry level contract-eligible player fixed
-possible crash when player requests number change fixed
-playoff stats no longer disappear from the roster and league stats views after the first season
-the red borders that indicate primary and secondary roles when selecting a tactical role are now dashed to improve visibility for colourblind users
-some highlight modes on the in-game display will no longer cause the game to skip past goals
-goalie start settings should now work properly instead of possibly causing the user's goalie to start every game
-in the pregame and postgame screens, the last games/previous meetings section is now sorted chronologically
-historical financial adjustments file corrected to include budget amounts in the 1917-1930 years (so budgets will now be on the same scale as everything else)
-"Iron Curtain" rule for historical games (preventing signing of Soviet-block players) should now be applied properly
-NHL contracted-player limits increased during the Original 6 years (i.e. 40s through 60s)
-NHL contract lengths restricted in the last few seasons before the WHA arrives to simulate teams responding complacently to the impending end of the reserve clause
-roster and lineup sizes reduced in the first 30 or so years of historical play, particularly in the earliest seasons; AI seems to handle it well so far, and should help with roster-filling difficulties in some start years
-best defensive forward award now more likely to go to a checking forward
-adjusted rookie of the year criteria to make wins by players with low GP less likely
-adjusted coach tactical preferences and goalie quality in the NHL slightly to get goal totals back closer to real levels
-achievements will no longer show the wrong popup and in-game version of the achievement
-achievement for winning lower-level international tournaments should now be awarded correctly
-Oilers historical challenge victory now triggeres correctly after the 5th Stanley Cup win
-player contract cap hits no longer editable without commissioner mode turned on
-clicking a retired player in the alumni list (possible if the player retires in mid-season) no longer causes a crash
-international game previews and recaps no longer show data for NHL teams in the recent meetings/head-to-head, injuries, and rankings sections
-custom leagues now have sound
-CHL rights for un-owned 15-19-year-old Canadians and Americans now set correctly: WHL/OHL/QMJHL teams will now be able to sign undrafted players directly from midget, Junior B, etc. at the start of the game
-score no longer reversed in "player participated in international game" news
-updated preset injury list
-players added to a shortlist via a right-click on the "Active Scouting" tab of the scouting screen no longer fail to move to the shortlist
-if a shopped player gets no offers, user will get a message to acknowledge that
-clicking edit in the workshop interface with the workshop already open in the Steam client no longer causes a crash
-crowd sounds now automatically restart after a goal when watchin in Full Game mode
-fixed league finals name failing to appear in some news stories
-various small text, formatting, and graphical changes