Need info on "Matches in full detail" option

I have a few questions if anyone can answer..

I think I read that if you have matches on in full detail turned off then the simulated matches only consider the club reps and then make a random score - if you have them on it considers player attributes and such

My question is - is this true, or is detail level something else? Could it be explained to me better?

And if it is true, then if i turn full detail on am I likely to see less of Real Madrid winning the Spanish league 10 years in a row as i have seen on one of my games etc. and more randomness because its not just based on club rep?

Next if thats the case - how much does it slow the game down? At the moment i've just started a file with about 20 leagues loaded in 8 nations, my PC has 1gb of ram and runs FM ok but not spectacularly obviously - if i have 'full detail' turned on will it dramatically slow FM down or just a little bit? I'm pretty patient as I read or play guitar while i wait for FM to load even if it takes 1 minute to process all fixtures, but i just dont wanna be sat there for 10 minutes waiting for all matches

Cheers to anyone who can help

David - your explanation is spot on. On "Full Detail", it will simulate the match with the same level of detail that it does for matches involving your team - you can watch replays, and be assured that the player statistics, team records, etc, faithfully reflect the current state of the team and league.

Among other things:

1. You're less likely to see Real Madrid win the Spanish league 10 years running

2. The team-management AI of those teams is more realistic and active

3. Fatigue, injuries, etc, for those teams are more realistic

It certainly does slow the game down; how much is very much up to your PC. You'll find that RAM is a key factor; there's a "tipping point" beyond which the save-game no longer fits in your available RAM. Once that happens, Windows uses "virtual memory", which is essentially using your hard drive as make-believe-RAM. Since the hard drive access is much slower than RAM access, the moment you do that, the game will slow down dramatically.

I don't think there's a deterministic formula like "N leagues = 1gb RAM" that I can give you, however, as everybody's machine is different: the operating system needs some, your virus scan software needs some, anything else you might be running needs some.

(Hint: Excel, Photoshop, and the like are notorious memory hogs; shutting them down to play FM can make a big difference.)

So, the best I can advise is "Try different league configurations, and see how it goes."

What I like, personally, is to take the first division from Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain as a "starting point". The first two, because it helps generate plenty of good South American regens, and the last five because they keep the Champions League interesting.

Then I add one nation all the way down to its lowest playable league (as I like to start out LLM), plus the top division of one or two nations that I'd be intrigued to manage internationally (e.g., Australia, Croatia, Holland, Portugal, Scotland, South Korea, U.S.A., personally).

With all of those as "Active" leagues, I'm good to go.

When I reach a point where I start to care about international results, I bump the appropriate leagues up from "Active" to "Full Detail": for example, if I started managing Holland, I'd make the Dutch Eriedivisie "Full Detail". If I'm managing an EPL side, I'll bump France, Germany, Italy, and Spain up to "Full Detail" so that the European competitions remain realistic (even if I'm not qualified for them yet, it impacts those English clubs which are competing).

I'm also fairly aggressive about managing the Detail Level for other events such as the Champions League, Euros, etc.: when I care about the results, they're on Full Detail; when I'm still struggling at LLM, they're not.

I think that gives me the right balance - flexibility (Active Leagues) without bogging my PC down simulating Italian Serie C2 matches while I'm managing in the Scottish 2nd Division.

Cracking post, Grommitt - err, I mean, Amaroq

That's very informative, and makes complete sense - thankyou.

Thanks a lot mate answered all my questions

Now I have a question-this is in the game detail screen under the options menu, right? I don't recall seeing 'active' as an option, only 'on' or 'off.' Am I looking in the right place?

Now I have a question-this is in the game detail screen under the options menu, right? I don't recall seeing 'active' as an option, only 'on' or 'off.' Am I looking in the right place?

Active/Inactive is an option when setting up the game. It can't be changed mid-game.

Very helpful thanks a lot.

You're welcome, to everybody; I appreciate the positive comments!

fdawsoniv, that's a good point that I should have clarified: at game creation, you choose whether a league is Active, View-Only, or Inactive. So, part of my post is talking about which leagues to select at game creation.

Once you have the game set up, go to Options | Detail Level, and set your own custom detail level for each Competition in the little world you're running.

The neat bit is, if leagues are Active, you can still speed them up by setting the Competition Detail level down to None - though they'll never be as speedy as a View-Only league. Even with Detail "None", you'll still see scores and scorers posted when you hit Continue, and it will still feel like it takes a while waiting for results to come in .. that's why I pick up only the top division from a number of leagues. It still gets good regen creation from those nations, without bogging me down waiting for games from divisions whose results I'm unlikely to ever care about.