[official] FM09 features announcement - match engine / 3d view / TV view

Is it safe to assume that "commentary only" mode will still be an option?

Miles, will the specifications required to play the game be more demanding now?

This thread is to discuss the FM09 features annoucement regarding the match engine and match screen.

Remember that if you want to see the video announcements, you can do so on www.youtube.co.uk/sigames - there will be more features, and an indepth look at some of the features, in the coming months.

This year’s match engine has seen more testing than ever before having been extensively beta tested in Football Manager™ Live for the past year.

The famous Football Manager™ match engine can now be viewed in full 3D with motion captured animations the players. Sports Interactive has been working on the 3D match engine with the support of SEGA Japan’s football development team who provided the motion capture data and some of the animations.

You can now watch your matches in 3D from multiple camera angles and re-watch any part of the match by fast forwarding and rewinding the action using a new match time bar that flags the key moments in the game.

The old 2d view of the match engine is still there, especially for those people whose computers aren’t powerful enough to take advantage of the 3d views.

Watch your matches in new full screen TV view and customise your match day screen with widgets to view the information you need as a football manager, be it player performance, match action zones, pitch radar, latest scores and many more.

miles any idea on wot specs its going to use a rough idea please,ive a amd processer 3400 ghz and 1.5gb orf ram sune to be 2.5gb of ram

I have a few things to say:

The shadows on the players don't start from the feet.

Also will managers be able to customise what the player models wear in the 2D match engine?

I like being able to review any part of the match.

Especially when I have scored and then told I'm off-side.

I need to watch those moments again.

Also, in the screenshots I see that it says Work In Progress. Were these taken at an early stage of the development?

Miles, I'd like to know if the stadiums and players will all be "generic" or will we get to see some of our favourite real-life stadiums and heroes in the 3D view?

I like being able to review any part of the match.

Especially when I have scored and then told I'm off-side.

I need to watch those moments again.

I believe there was 'instant replay' functionality on athe slider bar at the bottom.

A 3D match engine is certainly a mouth watering prospect. It will really add a new level of enjoyment to watching matches. I'm glad to hear that it's been extensively tested, I wouldn't want a repeat of last years FM08 engine which was horrible and turned the forum in to a farce

Is there going to be options to increase the textures and overall quality of the 3D graphics for those of us with powerful systems?

Also the billboards around the pitch look terrible, I hope you'll be adding much more variety to them, even if you have to make up advertisements

Oh and hopefully there will be a large amount of different animations. That was the one thing which made the 3D engine in Fifa manager dreadful, there were a handful of animations and only a few different types of shots and saves made. Got boring very fast

I like being able to review any part of the match.

Especially when I have scored and then told I'm off-side.

I need to watch those moments again.

this can be done using the new timeline

A 3D match engine is certainly a mouth watering prospect. It will really add a new level of enjoyment to watching matches. I'm glad to hear that it's been extensively tested, I wouldn't want a repeat of last years FM08 engine which was horrible and turned the forum in to a farce

Is there going to be options to increase the textures and overall quality of the 3D graphics for those of us with powerful systems?

Also the billboards around the pitch look terrible, I hope you'll be adding much more variety to them, even if you have to make up advertisements

Oh and hopefully there will be a large amount of different animations. That was the one thing which made the 3D engine in Fifa manager dreadful, there were a handful of animations and only a few different types of shots and saves made. Got boring very fast

i believe there will real adds in place those in video look like place holders

Will the players name still be shown under the player as in previous games?

see they need to be stickies..:-)

Looks nice at a first glance. Seems like all the players on the pitch have the same heigh, but I suppose you can´t get everything.

Is there a LIST of features rather than a youtube video?

Can't wait to see how this flows.

Question, with the motion capturing. Are we to see back-heels, diving headers, over head kicks, players pushing each other or surrounding the ref - in other words, incidents and skills that are captured in the commentary?

As it currently stands, in my opinion the 2D engine simulates well enough the difference between a world-class team and a lower quality one. With the latter, passing is less precise, players are not as witty and in general they move slower around the court.

Among the other things, I really hope the 3D engine manages to capture the same feeling.

I love the 3-D engine...it's great.

Yeah that's the thing, if it's just aesthetic - as in it just reflects the 2D engine in a 3D environment -, I'm all up for it; but if you actually get different movements and results, then no...

Excellent addtion to the game and just hope it runs smoothly and we dont keep getting the same incidents over and over?

Another question, which I have seen many other ask.....

Sound!! Will the sounds during a match be the same as before, have any been added, will it coincide with the attendance at matches.....I think this is a major thing which (hopefully) is needed....I downloaded a sound pack from somewhere and although it didnt work 100% perfect the additional sounds, chants etc etc from the crowd in big games were top drawer....the best was player related ones?!

Excellent addtion to the game and just hope it runs smoothly and we dont keep getting the same incidents over and over?

Another question' date=' which I have seen many other ask.....

Sound!! Will the sounds during a match be the same as before, have any been added, will it coincide with the attendance at matches.....I think this is a major thing which (hopefully) is needed....I downloaded a sound pack from somewhere and although it didnt work 100% perfect the additional sounds, chants etc etc from the crowd in big games were top drawer....the best was player related ones?![/quote']

Miles said in another thread the engine is exactly the same , just the display code is different, so the game will pan out exactly the same as it would in 2d, only thing that may let it down in the animation quality, but at least its not say a set of generic 500 clips or so that would soon become a p.i.t.a

oh good lord.

That's just what we need, a flawed match engine compounded by a gimmick. Awesome. I'll be skipping this release.

lol. Calm down. Its not even finished yet.

oh good lord.

That's just what we need, a flawed match engine compounded by a gimmick. Awesome. I'll be skipping this release.

That's just what the world needs, another over-critical moaner that is never pleased with anything.

You haven't even tested the FM09 match engine, let alone this "gimmick" as you call it

oh good lord.

That's just what we need, a flawed match engine compounded by a gimmick. Awesome. I'll be skipping this release.

You really have no idea what you are on about, and you clearly missed what Miles said in the video. We're using the FML engine.

I hate it when people say 'I like the 3D engine'. You never see the actual engine, all you see is 2D, or in this case 3D, representing the the calculations.

The engine we are using i believe was taken from FM 08 and put into FML and worked on a hell of a lot more than the latest FM 08 patch. Not only that, it has been tested, pounded in fact, for over a year. It has seen more testing than ANY other engine.

All 3D is doing is showing us what 2D would show us only in 3D. They are both reading from the same script. If you look at the new widgets feature (Which i think is awesome) you can actually bring up a 2D pitch. The players match on both 2D and 3D.

I have tested FML. The difference between the FM 08 engine and FMLs in big. The types of goals scored seems never ending, and the play is very smooth. All that is happening now is that we can see it in 3D. 3D will do this engine justice - Trust me.

oh good lord.

That's just what we need, a flawed match engine compounded by a gimmick. Awesome. I'll be skipping this release.

Good for you, nobody is gonna lose any sleep over that, no need to let us know...

The new game looks awesome, could anybody provide me with some info regarding release in Brazil?

with so much testing being done on the ME i have no concerns over the playability of it; i am expecting it to be of the highest quality.

the interesting thing for me will be the quality of the actual animations; how will different players display different traits/tendencies/skills?

i just have no idea how advanced the technology will be, cant wait to see it. in an ideal world they would have really gone the whole hog and used Euphoria or something similar (i can dream cant i?)

According to the annoncement the 2D mode is playable in the " highlight mode " only, or am I missing out on something?

You really have no idea what you are on about, and you clearly missed what Miles said in the video. We're using the FML engine.

I hate it when people say 'I like the 3D engine'. You never see the actual engine, all you see is 2D, or in this case 3D, representing the the calculations.

The engine we are using i believe was taken from FM 08 and put into FML and worked on a hell of a lot more than the latest FM 08 patch. Not only that, it has been tested, pounded in fact, for over a year. It has seen more testing than ANY other engine.

All 3D is doing is showing us what 2D would show us only in 3D. They are both reading from the same script. If you look at the new widgets feature (Which i think is awesome) you can actually bring up a 2D pitch. The players match on both 2D and 3D.

I have tested FML. The difference between the FM 08 engine and FMLs in big. The types of goals scored seems never ending, and the play is very smooth. All that is happening now is that we can see it in 3D. 3D will do this engine justice - Trust me.

So if the 3D shows us the exact same movements as the 2D, because it's the same engine running everything, then basically to get a good 3D representation of the match all SI need to do is include hundreds of different animations which accurately show us what the commentary is telling us is happening

oh good lord.

That's just what we need, a flawed match engine compounded by a gimmick. Awesome. I'll be skipping this release.

I love the 3-D engine...it's great.

You two need a room together.

It's amazing how some ppl can judge a match engine from a game they did not play, based on a release video with images of it when it was 33% complete...

I think the 3D is a great addition to the series and the fact that the dev team has spent 3 years on the 3D presentation of the match says a lot. I welcome the addition with an open mind and am hoping to be blown away once seen in full motion. The depth of detail that can be seen from the 3D view is yet to be seen, and I hope the animations are well reflected in order for us to be able to make decisons on penalties, send offs, etc.

Good to see PaulC posting about the match engine - I always like the little bit of insight some of the dev team give regarding FM.

I'm sure the 3d will be an excellent addition - probably quite functional at first - but improving with every version - allowing us to see more feedback and detail on what is actually happening on the pitch rather than having to guess/imagine.

I'm looking forward to it.

I thought that the match engine, after the 8.0.2 patch was fantastic. I understand that the match engine will now be better after reams of testing in FM Live (and as PaulC has said himself, they've gone beyond it). Now, I can't wait to see the 'finished' (for this version) article in action. If it all clicks (and it looks like it's going to), it will be awesome.

I can't wait to properly see a screamer fly into the top corner to win the Champions League!!!

i have always wondered how realistic football manager could be with the match engine and now after watching the video clip on you tube i just can not wait for the release in november. miles you and the workers on football manager have done yourselves proud and i sincerley congratulate u on making fm09 more realistic than ever before. good luck and keep the good work going

oh good lord.

That's just what we need, a flawed match engine compounded by a gimmick. Awesome. I'll be skipping this release.

So if the 3D shows us the exact same movements as the 2D, because it's the same engine running everything, then basically to get a good 3D representation of the match all SI need to do is include hundreds of different animations which accurately show us what the commentary is telling us is happening

http://www.sigames.com/graphics/images/1723.jpg This is the image i was talking about. If you look at the 2D widget, all the players match up. Look at who has the ball, and work around him. They all match. Both representations are reading form the same script.

You're right. SI need to, and are adding loads of animations. That's what miles said in the video. He said 'What you're seeing on the screen now is about 50% complete. We will be adding a lot more animations over the next couple of months'

The general play from the video looked good, and if that is it at 50%...100% will be amazing.

Regarding the 3 years of development, there is a small misunderstanding cleared up by Miles elsewhere today. We have been working towards a 3d view for 3 years, but the one we are using in FM2009 was started a year ago.

Where's your Avatar, Paul?

I'm really excited about it. We've bided our time before going for a 3d view with good reason I think, but now seems the right time, and hopefully over the next few releases it will go from strength to strength like 2d did. Its a massive challenge and we absolutely revel in that. Sometimes you have to push things to the next level, and hopefully come November you will be glad that we are doing so.

This is what i'm looking forward to the most, Paul. With no disrespect, looking back at the first 2D compared to now - It's kind of lame. I guess that's like anything new that comes out, though. Hopefully I'll be saying the same thing about 3D in 5 years time.

Regarding the 3 years of development, there is a small misunderstanding cleared up by Miles elsewhere today. We have been working towards a 3d view for 3 years, but the one we are using in FM2009 was started a year ago.

Thanks for the clarification as after watching the video, I got the impression that the team has worked on the 3D view for 3 years which is completely different to working towards it. One year of development is still good enough for me though.

Is that one ok? ( 50% chance based on where you are from I guess )

Is that Arteta? : ) I still remember his penalty for Rangers on the last day of the season when we won it Oh, and his goal against Celtic :D

My problems with the 3D are:

It will never be possible to render all the football stadiums that are on the database, so I hope

the 3D will be more schematic then realistic. (I´m not sure I explained this one right, sorry about my english).

The same with the players, I hope they are not over-detailled, for the same reason as above.

Overall, what I´m trying (and failling miserably) to say is: I don´t wanna be able to recognize some players in sight, because this means I wouln´t recognize other players, I prefer a more general representation of the players, skin tone, hair colour, height and weight correct are enough for me. If it´s to detailled it will go wrong.

We cant attempt to represent the stadiums. You can see from the screenshots that currently we have a kind of "abstract" stadium effect. I should imagine that will be something the user can turn off - we will see.

Player detail is limited to the four attributes you mention. We wont be going down the FIFA route in terms of detail, and we wont be going close enough with the camera for it to matter

Great news!

I think that´s an approach more in the "SI" spirit, there´s always that room left for imagining yourself.

great

How long have you guys been working on the 3D stuff? I heard something about 3 years (I think) so I'm hoping for your sakes, as well as the fans, that there's no teething problems.

Personally I don't see a point in FM 2009 being a mere beta for the 3D match engine, as it will be just be a waste of everyone's time as well as their money. I hope that the 3D match engine works, and works well.

As for Football Manager Live. I haven't a clue what that is.