Recommended New Game Setup

Ah, new FM, new game. So like, I never fully understand all the options in the New Game and I figure people would like a comprehensive knowledge on their setup since it'll affect their FM experience. So I hope this thread can be some-sort of New Game FAQ (and spare us from having to scour the thread for bits of info). So here's my questions:

1. What is difference between Nations Playable, View-Only, and Unselected? I know Playable means you get to manage in that Nation and everything from the lowest Active League upwards are simulated in detail. Does View-Only mean the same except you can't manage there? And Unselected means the league virtually stays the same - sans player progress and transfer? What effect should I expect if I loan my players to a Team in a View-Only and Unselected Nation? Will their progress be different from being loaned to an Playable Team? In FM08 I got conflicting results (some players progress faster in an Inactive Team)

2. I know Load Players From means loading all players from that particular Nation, but is this necessary if I already select that Country on View-Only or Playable?

3. Ooh! New option! But what does Add Key Staff actually do? I actually started a game out of curiosity but saw no difference...

4. I believe this is the aim of the majority of casual FM players: If I want to be a Premier League Manager, and my ambition is to become a Champions League winner, while having pools of world-class talents from the other Top Leagues -- what are you recommendation for my New Game Setup?

5. My current answer to #4 is this: only England as Playable, Database Small. I wanted to included the other Top Leagues as View-Only, but wary of the the resource needed since FM09 seem more resource-intensive than FM08.

I don't want to be just asking questions, so I'll contribute what I (managed to) know as well -- please correct me if I got some things wrong:

1. Lowest Active League -- the lowest level of which the game will render the matches in full-detail. The lower the league level, the more teams involved, hence more demands put on your PC/laptop. I'd recommend to set it at the level of the Clubs which you would loan your players to (subject to my question #1, of course)

2. Include View-Only Nations or not ---I believe including the Top Leagues from other Nations (England, Spain, Italy -- and 2nd tiers Germany, France, Portugal, Holland) will make their progress somewhat more realistic and keep the top teams from being 'invincible'. Also you'll see more variety in the Transfer Season (clubs going for lesser-known players)

3. Game Start Date -- where and when YOU start in the game. Some leagues have different Start of the Season Month. This is especially true if you play some non-UEFA League, say: USA's MLS

4. Database Size -- the bigger, the more players/staff/clubs you get but at a considerable demand on your PC/laptop. I personally always choose Small because all of the known players are already included in Small anyway. Unless you want to find that obscure player, or aiming to get the world's best regens, you'll want to stick to Small to trim down your game.

5. Load All Players From -- what it says: include all players from the selected Nations. Subject to Question #2, I don't think it's needed if you have the Nations already selected as Playable/View-Only. And don't bother with this unless you want to see more obscure players and regens.

6. Use Real Players -- unless you want to play FM for the sake of skill alone, you'll want to enable this.

7. Allow Transfer Budget in the First Window -- you'll get 0 Transfer Funds in the first Transfer Window (that's the off-season window, Winter Season for UEFA Nations). And so do the other clubs. There are two advantage to this: (1) You'll get to play with the game being closer its real-life counterpart, at least for the first half of the first season (2) It'll spare of you the first window chaos -- having to deal with player in/out transfer while doing the same with your staff, while setting up your tactics, training regime, squad assignments, not to mention Friendlies. But this option doesn't keep you from hiring those Club-less players/staff to boost your team. Be mindful that the same holds true for the other Clubs, so plan your move from day one.

You did answer most of your questions by yourself...

In general, you can select a lot more leagues and divisions than recommended, especially if you have 2 GB or more RAM and a good processor, like Intel duo core.

I start a game usually with up to 10 leagues and a total of 20 up to 30 divisions. All playable.

Add Key Staff allows clubs without a manager etc to be given a regen to fill the position, i read so in the manuel