Moving to FM

Hiya all. I'm thinking about moving to the Football Manager series, following the disappointment of Championship Manager 2010 and the announcement that there won't be a CM11. The last FM game I played was FM08, so it's been a few years sinse I touched an FM game. I have a copy of FM10 on the way to tide me over until FM11 comes out, but I have a few questions.

I don't get that much time to play games. I'd say about 8-10 hours a week if I'm lucky.CM10, even with it's faults was easy to pick up and play. Is FM10 as easy to pick up and play for a few hours, leave for a couple of days, then hop back into for a few more hours? Or is it the kind of management game that requires a lot of time and concentration?

What's the lowest English league in the game? As you can probably tell my the name, I'm a fan of FC United of Manchester. Is the Evo Stik Premier in FM10? If it isn't, is there any way of editing it in?

I suppose the lowest selectable league is Blue Square North/South. So the answer will be no but you can find patch which enables lower divisions.

There is no doubt Football Manager is much much better than CM. You're gonna love it

You can edit in lower leagues yourself with the new editor but you can also download Super Bladesman's English National League System Update, so you can play lower than the default lowest league (BSN/BSS, I think).

Thank you both for your replies. I'll check out this update Neji mentioned, as I really want to get FC United into at least League Two.

What about my first question? Is FM10 easy to pick up and play, and dip in and out of?

I haven't played any CMs since 01/02 but I would say that FM10 would maybe be a little bit harder to first get into than CM from what I've heard and read, but once you get into it the depth and quality is completely worth it.

I think you'll find that after a few hours putting it down for a few days won't be an option.

Lol. It's not always my own choice to leave games alone for a few days at a time. It's just that CM was easy to leave for a few days, then jump straight back into. I hope FM is the same, in the way that I don't have to sit there for hour upon hour just to get one thing done in the game.

My mate just dropped off a copy of FM10, which I'm currently installing!

Enjoy man, I've been playing since the original CM in 1992 or so, have been hooked since

Wow, that's 18 years of Football management. You probably know enough to be a real football manager lol. I've been playing sinse Championship Manager 3, which I used to play with few others in the computer room at school at lunchtime, until we got found out lol. My first football management game was Premier Manager on the Sega Megadrive, which I thought was brilliant at the time

I got into it again straight away. Actually, FM10 has seen me have the longest careers I've ever had.

Just started playing, and the display of the game is a bit confusing. I'm sure I'll get used to it though.

FM10 is easy enough to pick up the basics. A lot will just transfer over straight from CM. But to master it will take a while.

On my current save I've left it alone for up to a fortnight (you know the way it goes, doing bad bit frustrated, plus you've 4 Civ4 SGs to paly right now) and come back with minimal problems (usually only have to refresh memory about which Ronaldo I'm scouting is the top prospect DM and which is the decent WBL I can sell on for a profit at 20).

You've picked a good time to get back into FM again, imo FM10 is the best of the FM series so far.

I've hardly even started the game, and I already like it. It seems easy to get into, yet very detailed.

Welcome back to FM, I'm sure you'll like it.

If you need any tactical help or pointers, feel free to pop over to the Tactics & Training Tips forum. The tactics creator wizard in FM10 has helped a great many people understand and become more comfortable with tactical settings and was a great addition to the game. You can still use the sliders if you want though too.

As for time consumption, I find the start of a new save gobbles up the most time. Searching for players and staff, setting up what tactical approach I'm going to run with. Once you get the hang of things again though, you'll soon know how much time you want to devote to different aspects of the game.

If you need any help don't hesitate to write down here. We will be here to answer your questions

I vouch for SB's non league update as a Matlock fan (5-1 ) and i have found much enjoyment out of it for many many months.

Thank you Venom. The FM community seems really nice. The CM community was nearly dead, but this forum looks like it's buzzing with activity.

I vouch for SB's non league update as a Matlock fan (5-1 ) and i have found much enjoyment out of it for many many months.

Shh you lol! I'm currently a few friendlies into my first season as FC United, and am loving the league update. I'm currently living in Colwyn Bay, so it's nice to have them in the game as well.

Thank you Venom. The FM community seems really nice. The CM community was nearly dead, but this forum looks like it's buzzing with activity.

I know Hope you enjoy here.

Is CM a Sports Interactive game aslo? just wondering

CM was made by SI from the start upto around 2004.

At that point the publishers were Eidos. There was a split and Eidos kept the name and look of the game employing BGS to make CM from 2005 onwards. SI kept all the important stuff, signed a deal with Sega and called it FM from then on.

Also check out the FCUM thread in the Good Player And Team Guide thread.

I bought CM2010 for £2.51 when they were offering it for £2.50 and then whatever you wanted to pay on top of this. Like most people I paid an extra 0.01 pence. I started playing the game and things like the squad selection screen, set piece creator and other screens turned me right off as they were so fiddly and long winded. In fact I would go as far and say that they were very user unfriendly. I played half a season and gave up and have not touched it since.

FM2010 is far better and easier to play in terms of the interface. IMHO FM2010 is probably the best football manager simulator game of all time.

I think Uncle Ron's Non-League update (bringing steps 3 and 4 into the game) is worth looking into as well.

Thank you Venom. The FM community seems really nice. The CM community was nearly dead, but this forum looks like it's buzzing with activity.

The communtity is very active here and most are very helpful. Also there are other fansites like FM base, susie and FMChat which are worth a look.

By the way FM is a lot better than CM and by the looks of it the new version FM11 is going to be great!

I'm now really looking forward to FM11! I may even go as far as pre-ordering it

I didn't get a chance to play yesterday, but I played the evening before and signed a few Scout recommended players to my FC United team. I'm loving the staff interaction, with them being able to suggest training schedules, players, and all that kind of stuff. I am trying to play the game as realistically as possible, by not getting any outside help and only signing players that I've been recommended and who I've scouted beforehand. The staff interaction makes playing in that way much more enjoyable than it was on CM playing like that.

The game is very in depth and pretty hard for newbie so keep with it if you don't get success straight away.

Also if you are going to pre-order get in from Zavvi. They do the best price at £25.

I'll look into getting it from Zavvi. Thanks for the heads up.

Yeah FM is a massively inviolved game with so much depth to it.

You can involve yourself in as many or as few of the games areas as you want, but in my experience, the more you get involved in the better your results.

This also makes it even more rewarding Immense game.

Are there any threads dotted about which explain the attributes that are important for players playing in certain positions? I know the obvious attributes for all positions, but am not sure what others make good players in each position.

Have a look in the Sticky threads at the top of the Good Players and Teams forum and the Tactics forum.

I'll have a look there. I don't want to cheat at all. I just want to know what to look for when scouting players and watching them myself.

wtf?! you brought fm2010 when it will be a month or two at best before the new game comes out isn't that a waste of money!? unless you're an absolute FM addict :L

I said early in the thread that a friend has gave me his copy of FM10 to play on until FM11 comes out.

I've stumbled across the "dafuge's FM10 challenge" thread, and like the sound of his way of getting FC United into the game without an updated database. So I'm currently playing as an unemployed manager called Mr Holiday, who is on holiday until late June 2010 lol.

Good luck with dafuge's challenge Mr Holiday.

It's a very addicting challenge by the way.

If FC United ever get promoted, I'll be able to enjoy the challenge lol. Been reloading the 24th June for about 30 minutes, and FC United haven't been promoted once yet.

Thats weird. They normally come up pretty fast. Keep trying

Still no sign of them. This kind of sucks, but I'm not giving up.

How many times you tried now?

I've lost count. I've been reloading, checking the leagues, then reloading again for well over an hour.

It's no been nearly 2 hours... I decided about 20 minutes ago that if Cambridge City popped up, I'd choose them instead of FC United, but they haven't shown either sinse I decided that lol.

haha, I've never had it take that long for the team I wanted to appear!

I'm still trying now! I swear I've had every other team promoted that could be promoted, apart from FC United. I'm so bored!!

I know that thread is huge but if you do a search on it (search thread button at top right of screen) you may find a link to download a saved game with fc united as a promoted team. Goodluck..brilliant challenge and highly addictive

When I search anything with FC United of Manchester, I receive loads of results about Manchester United and Manchester City. I've looked through pages of results, but can't find the save for FC United.

before i started playing fm10 i to used to play fm08 and never touched fm09 because i was told it was **** but anyways it took me ages to get in to a longterm game on fm10 because i wasnt used to the never features and the newer layout but once i got into it i havnt looked back at all.

just thought id say

Try this link, about 5 or 6 posts down there's a list of saved games to d/l. I hope the saves are still active

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/158987-dafuge-s-FM10-challenge?p=4127280&highlight=united+download#post4127280

Put the file in my documents > sports interactive > football manager 2010 > save (or saved games can't remember)

Then load the game, click load from main menu and select the saved game

Wlv, will kits and club badges I downloaded work on that saved game?

Yes they will . Any graphics you install will work on all saved games

Oh my God, I love you! After all that time trying to get FC United in the game, you came along and sorted out my problem. Thank you ever so much!