Massively disappointed

I know there are already plenty of lengthy threads like this, and yes, I could have easily posted this in one of those. But I am hoping SI see this, not necessarily reply, but I hope they at least read why I am disappointed. Also that it not get lost or unseen in one of the other threads.

Firstly, I skipped FM08 because I personally felt it was inferior, after playing the demo, in a number of areas to FM07, and had more bugs that affected the game in a bad way. We all know what they were so there's little point dwelling on them. So, I've been playing FM07, and enjoying it right up to present day.

After FM09 was announced, I've followed every bit of news on new features the game will have, to the point where I could not wait for the demo to be released. I hadn't waited in anticipation for a game this much for years.

So, I downloaded the demo today.... and what a huge disappointment. And rather than mindlessly rant on; here's why:

- I have a decent spec PC; 2GB Ram, 2Ghz AMD Athlon, ATI Radeon graphics card. But the 3D representation of the match is woefully bad. Jerky, choppy, poor and unrealistic animation. It runs nothing like the clips SI have released over the last couple of weeks, obviously on their high-end machines. Ok, so that's not the end of the world. After all, they kindly left in the 2D option. But that is also outrageously bad! why? it's also jerky, juddery and hard to follow any kind of pattern of play. How come the 2D, that is easy on the processor, game engine can suddenly go from being smooth on FM07, to being still fairly good on FM08, to being a complete mess on FM09??? I really cannot understand that. I can handle 3D being in a bit of a state because it's new, but 2D!??

- Secondly, the football league is fully licensed, yes? So, when I start with my home team; Sheffield United, is there not one single player photo? I have installed the Strawberry demo, supposedly with all the detail. I may be biased, but I consider Sheff Utd to be one of the major teams in the Championship, so to have not a single player graphic is hugely disappointing. Not even James Beattie! Especially when (no disresepect) teams like Charlton, Bristol etc have player pics. It seems like a waste of a license to me, if you're not going to fully utilise it.

- Third point. I'm sure I read somewhere, I think it might have been in one of the blogs, that FM09 was doing away with Arrows in the tactics, and reasons for this were explained. I was intrigued to see how this would work... only to find the tactics section seems to have been completely untouched. Arrows are still there. Is it me or am I missing something here?

- I know this has been talked about a lot already, and has been announced it will be patched, but how can the game testers have over seen and not noticed the amount of injuries that occur in most matches? It's a glaring bug for goodness sake. Almost everyone on this forum since the demo has been released has experienced this! I played 3 friendlies against lower league opposition, and 6 of my best players; Sharp, Speed, Kilgallon, Halford, Sun Jihyai and Montgomery all picked up long term injuries.

- Another point, why is it that the mouse pointer movement jumps and stutters around the screen? it isn't so apparent in windowed mode, but fullscreen it's terribly cumbersome.

- Just for te purpose of playing the demo, I wanted to remove the masked player attributes, but I couldn't find that option in the prefs. Has it been removed? Also, are the other skin modes disabled for the demo? as I have 2 x 2009 options and 2 x 2009 right skin options. There's supposed to be a green version is there not? None seem to work.

I'm sorry but I didn't have the demo on long enough to find anymore, as I just couldn't motivate myself to continue with it. I've been playing FIFA09 on the PS3 the last few weeks, and was looking forward to adding FM09 to the collection of quality football games I have. But this feels unfinished, glitchy, sluggish and half-hearted. I'm glad I had the opportunity to try before I buy, because I can safely say, even when patched on release, that I won't be buying. I can't express enough how gutted I am about that. I don't even think the release day patch will fix everything anway.

Sorry for yet another negative post about FM09, as I know alot of people are loving it. All I say is you must be playing a different game to me if you're not getting the issues I've mentioned.

Anyway, happy gaming. My demo has now been installed. At least I still have FM07.

At least SI are trying to fix the issues which can only be a good thing.

the arrows are different

they no longer represent secondary position they represent player runs

- Third point. I'm sure I read somewhere, I think it might have been in one of the blogs, that FM09 was doing away with Arrows in the tactics, and reasons for this were explained. I was intrigued to see how this would work... only to find the tactics section seems to have been completely untouched. Arrows are still there. Is it me or am I missing something here?

- Just for te purpose of playing the demo, I wanted to remove the masked player attributes, but I couldn't find that option in the prefs. Has it been removed? Also, are the other skin modes disabled for the demo? as I have 2 x 2009 options and 2 x 2009 right skin options. There's supposed to be a green version is there not? None seem to work.

Third point: The Arrows are still there but do indicate only foward runs now, you can't make cross arrows anymore.

Player attribute masked is not available in the demo, you are playing a saved game in which you can't change attribute masking.

6 games in.

4 Friendlies, a Community Shield match, and a premier league paring.

Ive come across the press conferences, new transfer rumours, different bits to FM 08 and I am loving the game. I dont and havent gone from game to game, having switched from it being a new installment of something i love, to trying to find problems and the faults with it...cant stand the people whinging about it on here. Hey, i understand its your view, its how you feel, totally fine with that, but for all the people trying to find the faults, looking for holes, just take the game as it is, its 08, but has more features, its better.

What did I download - Vanilla.

- I have a decent spec PC; 2GB Ram, 2Ghz AMD Athlon, ATI Radeon graphics card. But the 3D representation of the match is woefully bad. Jerky, choppy, poor and unrealistic animation. It runs nothing like the clips SI have released over the last couple of weeks, obviously on their high-end machines. Ok, so that's not the end of the world. After all, they kindly left in the 2D option. But that is also outrageously bad! why? it's also jerky, juddery and hard to follow any kind of pattern of play. How come the 2D, that is easy on the processor, game engine can suddenly go from being smooth on FM07, to being still fairly good on FM08, to being a complete mess on FM09??? I really cannot understand that. I can handle 3D being in a bit of a state because it's new, but 2D!??

Check this thread out for 3D performance help http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=55715

My 3D runs very smooth now, I have 1.9 dual core processor, 2GB RAM, 358MB integrated graphics.

Good form PaulC

It's good to know SI have instantly accepted there are genuine problems, and are doing something about it.

I agree on some things but the processor issue has been explained in that AMD processors don't run aswell, considering you pay less for them it's to be expected. As for the runs, I also didnt see much difference and the glaringly obvious is WHO ARE THE TESTERS?? cos I honestly dont think they deserve their job.

PaulC - Many thanks for taking the time to reply, and explaining the arrows. I am grateful. I sincerely do hope the patch/es fix everything. I can handle the 3D not running properly if my hardware won't allow (even though I think it is good enough), but there's no excuse for the 2D representation to be as bad as it is, especially when it's been good to passable in previous FM incarnations.

And the lack of player pics at fully licensed clubs? or do we have to wait for 3rd parties to finish the job?

manutdthereds - Have you read anything I put? I am certainly not playing this game purely to pick and find faults with it. The issues I have mentioned are the issues that have found me! I just want to be able to play the thing and enjoy it... which I'm not being able to do. I have not waited 2 years (I didn't buy FM08) to play a game just so I can pick flaws!

I know SI are trying to fix things, but shouldn't the bugs, that we've all found after just minutes of playing, have been highlighted by the testers and fixed before the demo was released, surely? I fully appreciate the work that will have gone in to this over the last 12+ months, especially trying to do something as radical as 3D, for the first time. But judging by the 'unfinished' feeling I get from the demo, it appears they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

And the lack of player pics at fully licensed clubs? or do we have to wait for 3rd parties to finish the job?

That one may simply be down to the clubs in question not actually supplying any pictures, as I believe has happened in the past.

Man of steel, have you tried using 2D classic? The normal 2D features the same pitch as in 3D mode, which unfortunately causes a lot of the lag and jerkiness. 2D classic looks similiar to the old 2D versions. Also, one of the SI team has said in a post recently that some of the clubs don't gives out pictures to football manager, whereas other teams do.

Would just like to mention, despite all the negatives that obviously need addressing, the new features are all really good additions and show progression which is what everyone wants. One more thing i would like to add though, I, unfortunatly can't play the 3D match engine because the game won't let me on my laptop, how ever my cousin who has less specs than me on his laptop can run the 3D match engine. Maybe something to do with his being Vista and mine being XP? Also has anyone actually had a penalty shoot out yet in 3D? the keepers don't dive, they turn and face the post after the striker has shot then walk over to the post while the ball is in the back of the net like there chasing it, i only saw the keeper dive for one shot, but he missed it anyway. Thanks for keeping us updated PaulC, the good thing about SI is they actually listen to what you have to say! Top marks.

Kesteral - Yes I've tried both 2D variants. The classic is slightly less jerky, but as I said before; nowhere near as smooth as 07, or even 08, which is what I can't understand.

Considering SI and the testers have been going on about how good this new match engine is, 2D and 3D and that it's the best ever. To be honest, I've found it... well, as the thread title suggests.

I also noticed that the 2d view (classic) doesn't seem to be near as fluid as in FM08, and I'm running a dual core rig with 2 gigs - my uneducated guess is that all modes of presentation are kept ready at each point during the match, and that the most ressource hungry is the deciding factor in the speed of action. It's pretty awesome to swtich from 3d to 2d so fluidly, but maybe an alternative option you can pick prior to the start of each match or one being implemented in the options menu that would make the game just load a strictly 2d engine would help. It also appears the animation of the ball is cut down a little from where it was in FM08 in 2d, don't know. Apart from that:

I have a decent spec PC; 2GB Ram, 2Ghz AMD Athlon, ATI Radeon graphics card.

Could well be that you're barely exceeding the minimum specs still: there's dozens of Radeon cards and Athlon processors out there. An AMD Athlon XP clocked at 2 Ghz would hover around the bare minimum required to run the game under Vista, for instance. And there's many Radeon cards that don't even meet the specs.

The 3D graphics on my PC was choppy too until I have updated my graphics card driver to the latest version. Maybe those who experienced sluggish 3D animation could give it a try.