Where did the German Regional Divisions go???

Ok, so I'm fine with you not adding new leagues to this year's release, but REMOVING divisions you had in FM08? I always play in the German leagues, and FM08 was great in modeling every league down to the Regional Divisions. So I went ahead and bought the new version only to find out you removed the Regional Divisions from the game. It's unacceptable that you don't tell people about this beforehand, because I seriously would not have bothered buying the game. After buying every single release for the past 8 years, this is the first time I'm really upset. I wish to return the game because this is misleading - you should have mentioned this somewhere when you strip something that was there before. How do you return games bought on Steam?

It has become very obvious that you don't care about the German market. If you had at least provided a German quickstart with the demo I could have found out that way, but apparently even the Indonesian league is more important.

To those arguing FM09 didn't remove leagues but merely reflects the changes in the German league structure: FM08 already did reflect these changes properly at the start of the second season. At the start of the 08/09 season you had 4 tiers: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, and 3 Regional Divisions. In FM09 on the other hand they decided to remove the 4th tier.

Absolut spot on! Reducing the German Leagues must for me be the biggest disapointment with SI ever!

Is it not a licensing issue? as far as I'm aware SI arent even allowed to sell the game in Germany.

They've never had a license for Germany yet the Regional Divisions are in FM08. My outrage isn't so much over that they removed them for whatever reason (though that's very disappointing), but that they failed to mention that, and I ended up buying a game under false assumptions.

I haven't played 09 yet, so this is just a guess. Is it anything to do with the new Bundesliga set up?

"The 3rd Liga is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008-09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third-highest football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the semi-professional Regionalliga, which is now the fourth division and consists of three groups of 18 clubs playing separately."

I heard about this on another website and thought it was a joke. Why on earth have they taken them out? I'm presuming the Bundesliga 1 and 2 are still in though? If there were any licensing issues then surely it would have been from the top level, not the bottom?

I haven't played 09 yet, so this is just a guess. Is it anything to do with the new Bundesliga set up?

"The 3rd Liga is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008-09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third-highest football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the semi-professional Regionalliga, which is now the fourth division and consists of three groups of 18 clubs playing separately."

Ah, I'm guessing there's a 3rd Liga there instead then? That won't be so bad - can anyone with a copy confirm this?

Yes there are 3 leagues for Germany.

Perhaps that's the answer then. The German league was restructured for 08-09 so FM has included that change. The regional league is now called 3.Liga and the remaining teams are non-league.

SI had it spot on in FM08. In the first Season there was the 1 and 2 Bundesliga and the 2 Regional Divisions. After one Season like in real live the modus in Germany changed to three Pro LEagues (Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga and Third League) bellow those pro LEagues where the 3 new Regional Divisions.

In FM 09 it has now only the 3 Pro Leagues but none of the Regional Divisons. SI has therefore removed 3 Germen leagues. This is really annoying in my opinion as SI never made that public.

Just checked the Editor. The Leagues and Teams are there. IS there any way to make them playable?

But in FM08, after a year spent in Germany the new 3rd Division would be created as well as the Regionalliga North which are new to the 08/09 season. Therefore there was four tiers to play with in Germany.

Now there's only three. Bit of a disappointment.

Yes that right and if you played the German leagues in FM08 you would have noticed this also after 1 season.

Oh right, well that's got me stumped.

Feck me, that IS a huge disappointment.

It's true. The German Football league has been reorganised for 2008-09.

Wiki tells the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_football_league_system

SI took 3 Leagues away! WHY???

My guess is that the research was hard to come by. That's not so surprising because they surrendered the German market to EA, so there are obviously much fewer people interested in doing data research for a game that few Germans even know exists. The situation becomes more dire every year, and while the German FA take the lion's share of the blame for that one (with their screwed up licensing), SI should at least make an effort to get the game back on the shelves there, even if they have to resort to fake club and player names.

It's true. The German Football league has been reorganised for 2008-09.

Wiki tells the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_football_league_system

Yeah we know. The point is that FM08 modeled the restructured leagues more or less correctly down to the Regional Divisions, you just had to wait for the second season to start. In FM09 they stripped the three Regional Divisions that were there before.

Just play the Premier League, Seria A or La Liga like everyone else

(and at least you can play the game, it just crashes for me )

this is a major disappointment

So is it possible to return the game because of this? It's already installed and activated.

The new Regionalliga was not proper implemented into 2008 and a weird mix between professional, semi-professional and amateur clubs. I guess that was one of the reasons to skip it. Amateur football is something that is not implemented in a realistic way into the game. Hopefully this will come in one of the next versions as it would add a lot to the game. But for now I can live with it.

So is it possible to return the game because of this? It's already installed and activated.

Don't be ridiculous. It's not as if the game is unplayable because there's some leagues missing. Not even by the furthest stretch of the overzealous LLaMa imagination, I might add

Serie C2C, here we come

Indonesia has now 3 division in the game. With about 100 clubs which has all similar names.

Don't be ridiculous. It's not as if the game is unplayable because there's some leagues missing. Not even by the furthest stretch of the overzealous LLaMa imagination, I might add

Serie C2C, here we come

It's hardly ridiculous. Of course the game isn't unplayable, but I enjoyed managing German LLM in FM08 and there was no indication that they would remove the Regional Divisions, so of course I assumed they would still be there. The 3D alone isn't reason enough for me to upgrade, so I rather keep playing FM08. Like I said, if I had known this beforehand I wouldn't have bought the game, so I feel it's only fair that I can return it.

There are no leagues missing at all. The German league is restructured, and SI have reflected this.

Blame the German FA, not SI.

Its not SI taking 3 leagues away just to say haha...

There are no leagues missing at all. The German league is restructured, and SI have reflected this.

Blame the German FA, not SI, geez.

Way to miss the point, man...

It's hardly ridiculous. Of course the game isn't unplayable, but I enjoyed managing German LLM in FM08 and there was no indication that they would remove the Regional Divisions, so of course I assumed they would still be there. The 3D alone isn't reason enough for me to upgrade, so I rather keep playing FM08. Like I said, if I had known this beforehand I wouldn't have bought the game, so I feel it's only fair that I can return it.

You're not telling me you only play German LLM?

There's far more to the new version than 3D, fortunately.

There are no leagues missing at all. The German league is restructured, and SI have reflected this.

Blame the German FA, not SI.

Its not SI taking 3 leagues away just to say haha...

It helps to read the thread first before posting to avoid making a fool of yourself.

You're not telling me you only play German LLM?

There's far more to the new version than 3D, fortunately.

Not only, but it's what I enjoy the most. I hear you though, and maybe I'm overreacting in my initial disappointment. I'm probably just angry because I feel deceived. Was really looking forward to this year's installment and my first career game is always in Germany, so I was really shocked to see they took away my favorite starting league. Of course there are always England, Scotland and Italy for good LLM games, but I usually get to those at a later stage when I'm getting bored managing in Germany.

I agree it would have been totally ace to have an extra layer to the lower leagues of course. Be the next Hoffenheim.

Oh well. Next version. Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt (Hope dies last).

Damn- Germany was the next country on my LLM career game marathon, which began in the days of the Amiga. Magdeburg will have go without being restored to former glories. Looked at League 3, but the players are too good - I want to start with donkeys and plucky raw kids. Has anyone any advice on East European leagues; have done most of the west........would like to be playing in a nation which can eventually give a decent chance of European excitement, if not actually winning the Champions League. Is Russia any fun, or do you need to bebankrolled by a gangster oligarch to get anywhere?

like others have said before me, the german league has been restructed and fm reflects this.

theres no missing leagues from it at all, u really must read facts before actually posting!!!

it was the german f.a that changed them first, i read all this like time ago, what a stupid way of saying im taking back the game, lol

like others have said before me, the german league has been restructed and fm reflects this.

theres no missing leagues from it at all, u really must read facts before actually posting!!!

it was the german f.a that changed them first, i read all this like time ago, what a stupid way of saying im taking back the game, lol

What a dunce

What a dunce

lol u make me laugh!!!

u really must read facts before actually posting!!!

And you really must read the thread before actually posting.

And you really must read the thread before actually posting.

i read the thread, i just basically saying they didnt remove the divisions they just sorted them out. stupid!

Too bad, I really enjoyed managing in Germany with FM 2008, mostly starting in the lower leagues in Germany.

This is not correct! In FM08 starting in Germany you could choose Teams from the Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga and Regional Divisions South or North. Alltogether 4 Divsions. SI was right in changing this after one Season played to the new Germen league Modus. After 1 Season in FM08 the German leagues playable where the Bundesliga, the 2. Bundesliga, Third Division, Regional Division West, Regional Division South and Regional Division North. Alltogether 6 German Leagues!

In FM09 I now only have 3 German leagues. Which makes it in my book a reduction by 50%!

Where is the reply from SI on this eh ?

this is certainly a dissapointment but to consider returning the game because of it is a little narrow minded. its most definately not a deal breaker really is it

this is certainly a dissapointment but to consider returning the game because of it is a little narrow minded. its most definately not a deal breaker really is it

No but people are clutching at straws. Same every year, too many people looking for a bandwagon, a little interactivism for those who never leave their bedrooms.

Are Jena still in the game? ive had a few good games with them.

Jena are in the 3. Bundesliga and still in the game

No but people are clutching at straws.

Agreed.

Not only that but people demanding SI come and look at every thread they post in.

"WHERE IS SI, WHY HAVEN'T THEY REPLIED TO MY THREAD, OMGZZZZZZZ!"

You should start e new thread: Can not activate the game due to the lack of Regionalliga in Germany.

Talk about over the top reactions to a little criticism of the game.

I, too, am very disappointed by the lack of this extra tier in Germany. What is this, did I swap from 'fanboi' to 'basher' overnight in peoples opinion or what?

By the way - it's not a "Disgrace" that SI haven't responded to a thread in a day or two when they have worked around the clock for 3 weeks to release a game and are taking a well deserved day off I would imagine.

It's not like they're in Dubai.

SI's after sales support and customer service is so good that sometimes people think it's the norm. Would you expect Konami to respond on a forum why they have removed something from their game within a few days? Or ever?

I'd assume that the "new" 4th tier isn't included mainly because that would require research and a lot of info on the 5th tier to make the 4th tier playable.

Hope that makes sense.

I'd assume that the "new" 4th tier isn't included mainly because that would require research and a lot of info on the 5th tier to make the 4th tier playable.

Hope that makes sense.

Let me clarify again what happened, because there seems to be some misunderstanding. You have to compare FM08 and FM09 at the start of the 08/09 season, not at the start of the game.

In FM08, the 4th tier was included, but it took one season for the restructuring to take place. So at the start of the game you had First Division, Second Division, and two Regional Divisions. At the start of the 2008/09 season, FM08 adopted the new changes and you had First Division, Second Division, Third Division, and 3 Regional Divisions for a total of 4 tiers. So in FM08, everything was there, and the research about the 5th tier wasn't great but adequate. There were some minor issues with the quality of teams getting promoted in subsequent seasons, but nothing major.

In FM09 on the other hand, they only adopted the first three divisions and left out the 3 Regional Divisions. What we're complaining about is that SI should have left the system in place they had in FM08 at the start of the second season, and really there was no indication that they wouldn't. All 4 tiers were playable, and even without doing more research it would have been better than just stripping the 4th tier.