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Database Size?


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I'm starting this thread to get some views and to hear about people's experiences with using different database sizes on FM when setting up a new game.

My laptop is getting on a bit and, unfortunately, the old girl struggles to run many leagues on FM10 or 11. :(

I was thinking of trying a lower database size to speed things up. In the past, I've tended towards a general rule that for one nation games (e.g. all leagues in England), I would use a medium database, whereas for games involving several nations, I would tend towards a medium database. I'm now tempted to perhaps try going even lower towards the small database range to see if I can improve the speed of the game.

So, really I'm just looking for some opinions on this option. What do people normally load and what do they find best? Is it just a case of balancing realism and speed? Would loading a small database make that much difference to my game world and to the speed of the game? Those are some of the questions I have!

Thanks in advance for any advice. :)

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I think it would depend somewhat on the league that you're playing, the level and even foreign player limits. If you're playing a top-leagues-only type game, you could play with a smaller database, but maybe load all Continental Reputation players to give you more options at the top end. If your league is pretty tight on foreign/non-EU players, you could shave off some of the database from other countries. I'm also interested in this question, as my laptop is a bit underpowered.

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I think it would depend somewhat on the league that you're playing, the level and even foreign player limits. If you're playing a top-leagues-only type game, you could play with a smaller database, but maybe load all Continental Reputation players to give you more options at the top end. If your league is pretty tight on foreign/non-EU players, you could shave off some of the database from other countries. I'm also interested in this question, as my laptop is a bit underpowered.

I'm wondering if you load more leagues, you get more players, and therefore maybe a smaller database won't have such an effect on depth of the game world.

My own personal experience of the database size is pretty limited. I've nearly always picked large, sometimes medium, and haven't noticed a terrible amount of difference between the two. One thing I have noticed is that speed of processing is hugely impacted upon by database size in the newer games.

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I think size matters (crap, that's going to get quoted) but also focusing on giving yourself the most useful players for your particular setup is a good goal, too. Lower league South Americans aren't much use if you're an EPL-or-nothing sort of Football Manager. I tend to load some internationals and top teams from different continents, for a variety of good (or better) players floating around, with either a Medium or Large database and haven't found either to be a problem. I'd be tempted to use medium (or small) from now on, and add back in a few groups of players that will suit your game's "needs".

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When I used one league with a small database I found the game was super-fast, I went through two season sin less than a week easily, but the quality and quantity of scouted players was so poor that my team was actually in decline after two seasons, despite having a surplus transfer budget.

So I gave up.

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I currently have large database, 65 leagues loaded (a handful on view-only) with players retained for for all int'l squads and top clubs on all continents, plus all English players to go with my Uncle Ron's tier 7 & 8- player count is somewhere around 95,000. Game speed after initial setup is fine by my lights, but that's not to say someone else wouldn't find it a bit slow; I read or multi-task while it processes so it isn't a problem. I'd guess the average time between continues is anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, with a larger slow down when bit international tournaments are happening. All in all it works well for me- a tradeoff between a little loss of speed for a fairly in depth gameworld.

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Just for a point of comparison/discussion... my current game is only the two Dutch leagues loaded... Medium database + all Continental reputation players (all continents) + players from top clubs (all continents) + all European international players. This gave me a total estimate of 18,000 players loaded. Medium database alone would have given me 9,000 and large would have given me 12,000. I run on a Dell 1500 series, 2.0ghz single-core with 2 gb ram. This seems to work fine for as far as I ever get into a save.

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I think the larger database sizes give you more 'fringe' players and you get alot more real players at teams in leagues that haven't been selected, particular popular players (again, going back to my 'fringe' players statement).

I personally always use Large db over extra leagues, even on a low spec PC, as I find more leagues = slower speed. But on the flipside, active leagues will produce better and more frequent regens, so long-term games perhaps are better with more leagues..?

That said, I've never had too much trouble with regens and 95% of my games are played with only 1 active country. I have a quad core PC but I've always been in the habit of maximising speed in PC games. :)

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I started a game with a custom database of all players loaded from all contintents +African player database. Gave me around 300000 players. Tbh It has been preety meh... currently in 2017, speed is fine for me but I havent seen a great deal of players come through from anywhere apart from England, Germany, Italy and Brazil.

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My comps pretty old now. Dual core 2.4 I think. I'm over due a new one.

I have the english league to BS north and South, Italian league and Spanish league. I picked large database and added every player from about the top 12 nations in the world, cant remember exactly. I cant find where it tells you.

I went well over the recommended anyway, got myself half a star. I'm 3 seasons in and it runs like a dream. Very fast and no waiting around. If it stays that way I'll be very happy.

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Like me, the OP has a laptop with limited capacity, so some of the responses here are not useful to him. Before choosing database size, you need to think through what sort of campaign you're going to have.

If you're going to start with a club that qualifies for Europe, you'll need a lot of leagues to get the inter-continental balance right, but you won't need the db cluttered up with CA20 players, so a small db is fine.

On the other hand, if, like me, you're managing in the lower leagues, the European and international scene is way over the horizon, and the rubbish players at the 'bottom' of the db are very relevant.

The solution is not to think 'small' or 'medium', but custom. Tailor the db to what you need. I'm managing in Level 8 in England (thanks to Uncle Ron's db); thus, I need access to all the rubbish players in England, but not non-league Turkey, for instance. Therefore, small db + 'load all players based in England' suits my needs perfectly.

The downside of my choice is that English clubs will have an unfair advantage in Europe and England will probably win some future World Cup. Should I progress from level 8 to level 1 this will become a problem that I won't be able to do anything about. However, I'm aware that 7 promotions has never happened for me and never will (before FM12 is out), so I can live with it along with decent processing speeds.

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I like to have fast games and I have a really old laptop; so I usually play with small database.

I have loaded England (till division 3), Spain (till division 2), Italy (till division 2), Germany (top division),Holland,Brazil,Argentina (view only) with a small database. It gave me a rating of 3 stars and the game runs as fast in 2027 as it did in 2012 :)

And I find good enough regens for my team easily

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Thanks for your in-depth response there Phnompenhandy.

At the moment, I'd really like to do a journeyman save, and that means loading quite a few leagues. I don't know how much my laptop will be able to handle but my theory was that using a small database might help things along.

I've tended to find that the database size impacts quite heavily on speed on the latest FMs. I'm running a save with all England loaded and a large customised database with a lot of extra players loaded on FM10. I'm into the year 2029 and things have slowed down quite a bit now. It chugs along at a slow pace and I'm now left wishing that I had selected a medium database with no extras. To be honest, having the large database with extra players hasn't really helped that much in terms of finding players, as most of my gems still come from the big European nations. The only thing the large database has done is that it has made it much more difficult to dominate in Europe. I loaded all players from top clubs, as well as national team players, and Europe has remained a firm challenge in my current save.

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I like to have fast games and I have a really old laptop; so I usually play with small database.

I have loaded England (till division 3), Spain (till division 2), Italy (till division 2), Germany (top division),Holland,Brazil,Argentina (view only) with a small database. It gave me a rating of 3 stars and the game runs as fast in 2027 as it did in 2012 :)

And I find good enough regens for my team easily

Thanks for this post Fyrros. This gives me some confidence to try loading more leagues at the cost of reducing the database size. :thup:

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