Setting up the real EURO 2012 in FM 2012

Over at Sortitoutsi.net, I recently discovered this thread. Seems the lot are about to kick off a virtual EURO tournament, FM-style, likely using FMRTE to edit the squads in order to fit the real thing.

Whilst I'm still disappointed that SI haven't provided quick saves to any big tournament in recent years, probably also due to licensing issues, I want to set up one of those myself, both for me personally, and one I'd like to invite players for. Thing is, I have zero experience in setting up a network game. But most of all: I have zilch idea how to best go about this. Never used FMRTE, don't know what is possible with it, and how to best set up such a save.

As FM 2012 starts in summer 2012 (or spring 2011, depending on which starting point you choose), it is a minimum requirement for all the real EURO teams to qualify. Any ideas?

That thread is for FIFA 12, not FM12.

Whooops, my bad! Is there any way you could set up a "real" EURO tournament in FM 2012? Maybe by setting up a new competition in the editor by yourself?

Maybe if you reloaded a billion times to get the correct groups, then you could add manager for all the countries and select the real-life squads.

It's easier, I found a neat download over at Fm Base that sets up real squads, groups and schedules - e.g. on June 9th, it's Holland playing Denmark and Germany playing Portugal, only the kick off times are swapped. The best way to start a game is to choose a league that starts in spring 2012. Of course, come May 2012, the squads may be changed by the AI managers slightly, and on my first test run I had the Russian association sack Advocaat come end of 2011. I noticed after first looking at Russia's starting formation against Greece in the opener, suddenly lining up 4-4-2 rather than the 4-3-3 favoured by Dick and used by him in the game as well. But this looks real solid a foundation for both predicting the EURO as well as starting an on- and offline save during the tournament as well.

I only need to find out how to get Rooney suspended and Villa, Puyol et all injured. :-) Both Rooney and Villa ended up being top scorers on the first run (full detail match sim enabled for the entire competition), with Germany beating Spain in the final, 2-0, regardless - all teams controlled by AI managers. There are lots of popular gaming sites that predict the outcome of matches on action games like FIFA and PES. I think this is a frequently missed opportunity by SI. But now I have found something that will keep me gaming company during the next 3 weeks. :-)

Guys, this file is as close as you probably get to a real EURO in FM 2012. But I still have a few problems ironing it out to completely suit the real thing.

Is it possible to have the injuries picked up by Lampard, Puyol, etc. shortly before the tournament in the game? It seems the program only picks up the injuries you edit into the database when they occur prior to the starting point of your game. I.e. : If you start in Sweden, February 2012, Villa is out in the cold due to his Decembre 2011 injury. A workaround would be either to give Lampard, Puyol, Villa and Olic similiar long-term injuries so that they aren't picked by the managers in May 2012. Or to make them retire from international football via the editor.

There is another issue, and this one puzzles me: When I get Rooney banned for two internationals starting with June 2012 or any date, the game just opts to ignore the edited ban completely. Forcing the above players out of the EURO is no problem - a recent full-sim test has shown that they can make a big impact on the competition. However, I don't know why Rooney's ban is being ignored completely. For realism's sake, you might also want to edit Roy Hodgson, as he isn't appointed as England manager in the xml file from FM Base quite yet.