[WIP] Northumbrian Nation & League

Introduction:

After many setbacks and road-blocks to my ambitions I have something approaching a working model for a Northumbrian league system and national team, an expansion of something I have created for personal use since FM'06.

Disclaimer

This is my interpretation of a Northumbrian nation, anyone with majorly conflicting ideas is welcome to create their own system and boundaries. However, any impartial critique, advice, interest or offers of help would be greatly appreciated as I may have started something that could become too-large in scale to finish as an individual.

Stability:

Presently holiday-tested to the end of the 2014/2015 season without any crash-dumps or glaring issues. I'm working on what is version 3 of my XML file, with the present release being designated v3.00. This file can be ran alongside any other default nation without issue, but problems will probably arise with other XML files due to the volume of changes in this one.

Stuff to do:

- Check initial transfer and wage budgets for relative accuracy

- Check season ticket holder values compared to average attendance, and ticket prices compared to others in the league

- Fix national flag in overview screen so it is the same size as those already in the game

- Add positional awards for all divisions and the nation as a whole

- Add details for new regional XI teams and increase reputations accordingly, implementing transfer embargoes if necessary

- Add existing free agent players/non-players to appropriate squads

- Finalise club finances/facilities/prize monies (reliant upon feedback)

- Finalise league/cup/squad/team rules and restrictions (reliant upon feedback)

- Finalise de-sponsoring of any competitions that were missed (reliant upon feedback)

- Some other stuff I've probably forgotten

Long-term goals:

- Find correct away kit information for: Morpeth Town, North Shields, Penrith, and Ryton

- Find foundation dates for a large number of the more-obscure clubs and correct the 1900 default

- Add kits and stadium information for remaining Northumbrian clubs without such information at present

- Add full competition histories for: League Trophy predecessors, Intertoto Cup, and old Third Division (North) & (South)

- Add referees into database: there's allegedly a fatal flaw with doing so in this editor version

- Expand the county cups to include all teams from each region

- Add media sources for fanzines and include more local journalists

- Add as many key players and staff members to as many clubs as possible

- Create and implement graphics for clubs & competitions

- Replace large nation flags with an outline of that particular country to make the Overview screen more interesting

- Recreate a proper pyramid system with regional promotions and relegations

- Expand the National Cup beyond the limit of 256 teams

- Experiment with a Britannic Cup for all the Home Nations/clubs

- Replace the default Nation Rules reserve leagues with a II-team ladder, or incorporate into a pyramid system

Present issues:

- Competition names randomly disappear in the club honours screen: I can't work out what is happening here but after the first season the headers of honour dates become blank for certain competitions. Which is annoying, but not enough for me to remove these competition histories from the database.

- Competition/player background colours seem to have a mind of their own and don't correspond to what I have chosen in the editor. Not sure what is going on here so I've compromised for the present time.

- Simple ladder league system implemented due to regionalised promotions/relegations not working properly: the regional leagues soon became a mess in my holiday tests: in this set-up I had II-teams of the largest clubs participating up to regional level, rather like the German league system.

- Inability to run an active II-team league below the inactive national Conference: a workaround would be to stop relegation from the Third Division but that impacts realism too much to seriously consider.

- The Exhibition Cup is a little glitchy when it comes to post and pre-match media reports and fixture/results displays when the human player is managing the nation, but the matches themselves run without issue and there are no problems at all when the nation is computer-controlled. As such, I've retained the competition as an element of interest during the winter break.

- Nation's population shows as zero and national stadium is stuck as "various national stadia": Purely cosmetic issues that can't be fixed within the editor. If anyone's got an idea of how to fix it in the program files I'd like to know.

- Naturalised players obtain Northumbrian, rather than British, nationality: I would rather that they obtained British instead of Northumbrian nationality as my nation has the same status as Scotland and Wales in this simulation. Again, I don't think there's any way of fixing this within the editor.

National Territory:

Nordic Regions: Bernicia (Red) with Novocastria (Burgundy), Deira (Yellow) with Vinovia (Orange)

Celtic Region: Cumbria (Turquoise) with Mænavia (Green) and Caledonia (Blue)

- This is the Territory of Northumbria; a new country of the United Kingdom within the Britannic Isles. It is placed in the UK & Ireland region and plays in all relevant International tournaments. It has a national reputation and league standard similar to that of Wales and Scotland respectively.

- The nation's Dominion includes: the North-East-England region and the county of Cumbria; the old Scottish administrative areas of Wigtown, Kirkudbright, Dumfries, Selkirk, Roxburgh, and Berwick; the City of Lancaster district; and the electoral wards of Richmond & Scarborough from North Yorkshire. Population is around 4M, comparable to that of Scotland.

- My borders are loosely based on the ancient kingdom of Norþanhymbra and its dependencies (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Northumbria.rise.600.700.jpg/577px-Northumbria.rise.600.700.jpg), although I have restricted these boundaries quite extensively: the actual borders would include all lands from Liverpool and Sheffield along the M62 to Glasgow and Edinburgh along the Antonine Wall. These areas have their own distinct identities now - not to mention Edinburgh already being the capital of Scotland - so it's unlikely they would join a modern Northumbria. Additionally, including all these locations, players and clubs would be a massive challenge given the amount of data that would need to be edited, and at the end of this I would end up with what would be by far the strongest nation in the UK - something which isn't my intention: I'm aiming for a more-competitive set of Home Nations.

National identity:

Flag of Northumbria

- Two new weather systems added; Nordic Northumbrian and Celtic Northumbrian. Both are identical to English Northern save for more wind and extra rain respectively to emphasise the climactic differences between the East and West coasts

- Around 125 locations added into the game, and all relevant in-game cities moved from England and Scotland into Northumbria. Additionally, geographical co-ordinates and citizen ranges are either added or corrected for all locations. Altitude data was not added due to a lack of available information online.

- Seven local regions, edited from those already present in the game. These are: Bernicia, Novocastria, Vinovia, Deira, Cumbria, Mænavia, and Caledonia. The first two fall under the greater region of Bernicia, the second two under Deira, and the final three under Cumbria. Additionally, the first four are considered Nordic and the latter three considered Celtic both in location and culture. All these place names are real for each particular area, although they are somewhat asynchronous: however, that is irrelevant in modern terms and is an analogue of the 'Africanisation' of place-names in newly-independent African states last century.

- Celtic language created out of Usa: integrated into Wales, Ireland and Scotland as well as Northumbria with a varying percentage of speakers from 5% in Northumbria to 25% in Wales.

- Relevant Media Sources have been moved from their respective nations into Northumbria, or have had Northumbria added to them

- Northumbrian flag added into the game

Clubs:

- All moved and replaced from the English and Scottish pyramids, with at least 120 more added to give a working total of 234. Only 60 are actively involved in the league structure, however; the rest only surface in Friendlies and the cup competitions.

- Basic stadium and kit information has been added for all 60 clubs actively involved in the league system, as well as foundation dates and nicknames where appropriate. Additionally, generic regional stadia have been added to all clubs outside the league system so that the game can locate them.

- Club reputations for all teams within and outwith the active league system have been altered - generally increased - to reflect their status as national, rather than regional, teams. However, some former non-league Scottish teams had theirs reduced somewhat as they were comparatively inflated.

- Regional XI clubs added for each county, to participate in the Exhibition Cup.

Players:

All moved from respective countries; around 1100 in all. All International caps reset to zero.

Competitions:

- Three national leagues of 11 teams who play each other 4 times. A fourth, inactive conference division of 16 teams that in turn would theoretically feed into three county league ladders, which are themselves little more than place-holders for extra teams in this version. Additionally, there's a national cup for all teams within the nation and three county cups that are, at present, for the 32 highest-ranked teams in each region. Finally, there are reserve divisions running for the league teams and an Exhibition Cup for the regional XIs and the National squad. This structure can be viewed in the next post.

- Complete competition histories for Scottish and English tournaments down to the East of Scotland league and the Northern Premier League have been added back to each club, including the European Trophy (EURO Vase/Intertoto Cup).

- Comprehensive competition awards added for all divisions down to the Northumbrian Conference, based on the English awards model. Some extra overall awards added, such as an overall Goalscorer and Team of the year. Individual positional awards are forthcoming.

                                                European cup
                                                Competitions
					 (1+3 teams)

                                                     ^
                                                     |

	Northumbrian		         Northumbrian
	National Cup		         Premiership
	(234 teams)			 (11 teams)

	        			      |

               Northumbrian			 Northumbrian
	Bernicia Cup		         First Division
	(16 teams)         		 (11 teams)

	                                      |

	Northumbrian		         Northumbrian
	Cumbria Cup     	         Second Division
	(16 teams)     			 (11 teams)

	                                      |

	Northumbrian		         Northumbrian
	Deira Cup     			 Third Division
	(16 teams)     			 (11 teams)

                      		                      |

               Northumbrian                           \
               Exhibition Cup                           - - - - - - - - - - -
               (7+1 teams)                            /                       \

				              |                         |

	        			 Northumbrian               Northumbrian
	        		 	 Conference                 Reserves Group 1
	          			 (16 teams)                 (11 teams)

					      |                         |

					      |                     Northumbrian
                                                                           Reserves Group 2
                                             /                      (11 teams)
          - - - - - - - - -   - - - - - - - - -   -
        /		     / 	                 /                              |

       |		    |		        |                           Northumbrian
      	v		    v			v                           Reserves Group 3
                                                                           (11 teams)
   Northumbrian        Northumbrian        Northumbrian
   Bernicia Leagues    Cumbria Leagues     Deira Leagues                       |
   (unplayable)        (unplayable)        (unplayable)
                                               		            Northumbrian
                                               		            Reserves Group 4
                                                                           (11 teams)

                                                                               |
                                                                               v

                                                                           Northumbrian
                                                                           Reserves Group 5
                                                                           (16 teams)

Northumbrian Premiership

-

- Tier 1 and Step 1

- Active division of 11 teams

- Teams play each other 4 times for a total of 40 games

- 1st team qualifies for the Champions League, 2nd-4th teams qualify for the Europa League

- Bottom two teams relegated to First Division

Northumbrian First Division

-

- Tier 2 and Step 1

- Active division of 11 teams

- Teams play each other 4 times for a total of 40 games

- 1st team automatically promoted to Premiership. 2nd-3th teams play-off for one further promotion place

- Bottom two teams relegated to Second Division

Northumbrian Second Division

-

- Tier 3 and Step 1

- Active division of 11 teams

- Teams play each other 4 times for a total of 40 games

- 1st team automatically promoted to First Division. 2nd-3th teams play-off for one further promotion place

- Bottom two teams relegated to Third Division

Northumbrian Third Division

-

- Tier 4 and Step 1

- Active division of 11 teams

- Teams play each other 4 times for a total of 40 games

- 1st team automatically promoted to Second Division. 2nd-3th teams play-off for one further promotion place

- Bottom two teams relegated to Conference

Northumbrian Conference

- Tier 5 and Step 2

- Inactive division of 16 teams

- Teams play each other 2 times for a total of 30 games

- 1st team automatically promoted to Third Division

- Theoretically, 2nd-5th placed teams play-off for one further promotion place

- Theoretically, the bottom four teams would be relegated to the County Leagues

Northumbrian Regional Conference Leagues

- Numerous unplayable divisions spread over three regional leagues: Bernicia, Cumbria, and Deira

- Theoretically, the 1st-placed teams of the three regional leagues would be promoted to their corresponding premier leagues

- No actual league movements between these and the national Conference due to editor restrictions

Northumbrian Reserve Leagues

- Three active divisions of 11 teams and one inactive division of 16 teams

- Clubs' reserve team league placement and fixture listings mirrors that of their senior squad

- Promotion and relegation follows senior squad results

Northumbrian National Cup

- Cup competition of 234 teams

- Open to all clubs in the nation

- Top 22 seeded clubs enter in the second round

- Straight knock-out throughout the competition

- Single replays possible for all matches up to the Semi Finals

Northumbrian Bernicia Cup

- Cup competition of 32 teams

- Open only to the top 32 Bernicia-based clubs

- All clubs start at the first round

- Straight knock-out throughout the competition

- Single replays possible for all matches up to the Semi Finals

Northumbrian Cumbria Cup

- Cup competition of 32 teams

- Open only to the top 32 Cumbria-based clubs

- All clubs start at the first round

- Straight knock-out throughout the competition

- Single replays possible for all matches up to the Semi Finals

Northumbrian Deira Cup

- Cup competition of 32 teams

- Open only to the top 32 Deira-based clubs

- All clubs start at the first round

- Straight knock-out throughout the competition

- Single replays possible for all matches up to the Semi Finals

Northumbrian Exhibition Cup

- Cup competition of 8 teams

- Open only to the 7 county teams and the national squad

- All teams start at the first round

- Straight knock-out throughout the competition

- All results are decided on the date of the fixture

Further deviations from reality:

- Attendances and club facilities of clubs actively involved in the league system as well as some outwith have been improved to suit the needs of a national ladder: a plausible lie as a new nation would spark new interest and, in turn, financial backing.

- Where clubs have folded and re-formed, I have taken their first incarnation as their grounding and worked from there with regards to foundation dates and club honours: Scarborough, Gateshead, and Gretna are prime examples. Additionally, Scarborough are back at the McCain Stadium as their present ground-share in real-life would put them outside my Northumbrian boundaries.

- I have moved the Welsh clubs that were in the English pyramid back into the Welsh leagues; it seemed logical to do so after clearing England and Scotland of any Northumbrian clubs. League reputations have been altered accordingly.

- The old Division Three North honours have been prefixed to the Second Division (old Third Division) history. Similarly, the old Division Three North Cup has been added to the history of the League Trophy, which in turn has been prefixed by the Texaco Cup and the League Group Cup. The latter two were continuations of each other and the old Third Division League Cup is of a similar stature and bearing, so it seems reasonable to group them together.

- Czech Republic has been renamed Czechia, an alternate official name. Northern Ireland and Wales have been renamed Ultonia and Cambria respectively to follow on with the naming pattern of Northumbria; both of these names are alternate Latin descriptions. In turn, the Republic Of Ireland has been shortened to Ireland.

Images:

National squad main screen / club screen with NTH Northumbrian flag icon / match result screen vs. Italy

This looks good

Brilliant! A fellow County to Country maker! Good luck my friend! More people should do this!

sorry if this sounds daft but has the Premiership been removed, so the Northumbrian league is the best is that right.

This looks good

Cheers, mate. There's still a lot of work to do; to start with the top league is pretty stratified with the same teams finishing in the same positions each season, but I'm getting there. It's probably not so unrealistic after all when one considers the Premier League, but I would like to at least make it possible for one of a clutch of Carlisle, Hartlepool and Queen Of The South to break the top three every so often. The ex-Scottish teams seem to suffer badly throughout the leagues, too: I think their reputation/ability ratios are inflated compared to their English counterparts.

Brilliant! A fellow County to Country maker! Good luck my friend! More people should do this!

Hahah, I've done this for personal use since FM'06; I'm not sure why it has taken me 'til now to think about making it public. It's just a shame that my ambitions have clearly shown the limitations of the editor, as well as my own limitations as an editor. Ahaha. Thanks for the support, it's appreciated. I do have a quick question for you, actually: how did you set up your Transfer Preferences? It seems that whatever I input, the top-league teams end up with nearly entirely-foreign squads that don't in any way correspond with what I entered.

sorry if this sounds daft but has the Premiership been removed, so the Northumbrian league is the best is that right.

Not daft at all, I didn't mention in my posts that this runs parallel to the English league system or any other you care to run at the same time. It's an entirely new nation that hasn't overwritten any already in the game, and as far as I can see it doesn't conflict with any other leagues either. The First League is the top league in Northumbria, but its reputation is somewhere similar to the Scottish Premier league - much lower than that of the English Premiership.

I like this idea,

may i ask what cities and clubs have been added (mainly for the South East are of Scotland (i stay here and would maybe be able to help with a few real life clubs. althoguh players and staff are a problem here as lack of information.)

I like this idea,

may i ask what cities and clubs have been added (mainly for the South East are of Scotland (i stay here and would maybe be able to help with a few real life clubs. althoguh players and staff are a problem here as lack of information.)

CITIES: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Chirnside, Coldingham, Coldstream, Duns, Earlston, Eyemouth, Galashiels, Greenlaw, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, Lauder, Melrose, Selkirk, St. Boswells

CLUBS: Berwick Rangers, Berwick Town, Berwick United, Coldstream, Eyemouth United, Gala Fairydean, Hawick Royal Albert, Kelso United, Selkirk

I think I'm fine for cities; they're all geotagged. If anything I have too many of them, hah. As for the clubs, most of what I have are without any information at present; it's something that I need to do for most of the clubs. Massive task!

CITIES: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Chirnside, Coldingham, Coldstream, Duns, Earlston, Eyemouth, Galashiels, Greenlaw, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, Lauder, Melrose, Selkirk, St. Boswells

CLUBS: Berwick Rangers, Berwick Town, Berwick United, Coldstream, Eyemouth United, Gala Fairydean, Hawick Royal Albert, Kelso United, Selkirk

I think I'm fine for cities; they're all geotagged. If anything I have too many of them, hah. As for the clubs, most of what I have are without any information at present; it's something that I need to do for most of the clubs. Massive task!

I live literally up the road from Netherdale (Gala Fairydean) and used to play for Kelso United's youth set up. Ill see what i can get for you.

All the cities sound about correct unless you want to add Jedburgh but i dont think this would really be nessesary. (also appear to be missing peebles they are already within the database).

If your missing a team, another Gala side would be Gala Rovers. They are a couple of leagues below Fairydean and share a stadium. Again i could probably get information from the club if needed.

I had some terrible fish and chips in Jedburgh once, family holiday touring scotland... Nothing like fish and chips from Grimsby

I am very interested in how this goes, I am currently figuring out finances myself, I have taken a best guess and tried it, nothing seems amiss so far but now I have released mine I am sure some people will tell me my teams need more or less money.

lol i swear by the chippie in Kelso myself.

Yea nine_iron i will probably have a shot at yours myself, finishing the final BETA test on my Power leagues. Although again like you wary of finances. Will also be having a shot on this database.

From the pair of you editing these (rather simple compared to mine, well the great britain one got my head fried lol) But as i was saying, what advice, could you offer.

I live literally up the road from Netherdale (Gala Fairydean) and used to play for Kelso United's youth set up. Ill see what i can get for you.

All the cities sound about correct unless you want to add Jedburgh but i dont think this would really be nessesary. (also appear to be missing peebles they are already within the database).

If your missing a team, another Gala side would be Gala Rovers. They are a couple of leagues below Fairydean and share a stadium. Again i could probably get information from the club if needed.

Excellent, any further information would be greatly appreciated! I'd like it in text format though if that's okay, I'm rubbish with XML files and I'd probably make a mess of merging them.

Jedburgh is in the list above; they're in the database. As for Peebles (and Innerleithen), I decided that due to its proximity to Edinburgh I would leave it outside the boundaries of my Northumbrian nation; the whole of Peebleshire was omitted. I used this old map as reference: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Scotland_Administrative_Map_1947.png

Sure, I'll add Gala Rovers in; the more teams the better, although I already have an overflow of teams from the North of my nation. It's Teeside and Wearside where I would possibly be lacking teams in a larger league pyramid or when it comes to the county cups, but I'll add in anything I can.

I had some terrible fish and chips in Jedburgh once, family holiday touring scotland... Nothing like fish and chips from Grimsby

I am very interested in how this goes, I am currently figuring out finances myself, I have taken a best guess and tried it, nothing seems amiss so far but now I have released mine I am sure some people will tell me my teams need more or less money.

Ahah, can't beat fish an' chips from the Arcade in Whitley Bay. ;D

Yeah; I don't seem to have any teams collapsing so I think I have it mostly in-check. I suppose the only way to really find out is to run a test with an actual collection of clubs rather than remaining unemployed, but I have a brick of a computer so it would take a ridiculous amount of time. Just using the editor causes it to lag, which is massively infuriating. Hah.

lol i swear by the chippie in Kelso myself.

Yea nine_iron i will probably have a shot at yours myself, finishing the final BETA test on my Power leagues. Although again like you wary of finances. Will also be having a shot on this database.

From the pair of you editing these (rather simple compared to mine, well the great britain one got my head fried lol) But as i was saying, what advice, could you offer.

Glad for the interest in this, it gives me the motivation to carry on with it. As for the British Leagues, I had a go at that myself by shifting everything over from the other home nations; it was fine 'til I shifted the English set-up across. I assume England is one of the compulsory nations, or something, so I gave up at that point in favour of putting more time into this as unlike the British leagues, this is somewhat unique. I'll be interested to have a go at any British set-up, however. It'd provide more of a challenge for me than this league as being a Newcastle supporter, the only real issue I'll have is with winning continental competitions.

Managing Whitley Bay should be a little more interesting, however...

In terms of advice you seem to be way ahead of me so I'm not sure what I can give. Heh. Just make sure that all the stadia are added and that they're linked to cities that are geo-tagged for when the leagues get regional. Wikipedia's great for getting the co-ordinates of cities.

Of course, the whole regional promotion/relegation aspect of this editor is pony; I scrapped my pyramid in favour of a ladder 'cause it was just rubbish at putting teams in the right leagues. I don't know if it happens anywhere in the world but I'd like to see some sort of dynamic relegation whereby the worst team in a league from each particular region is relegated. It would make things more interesting regionally and would also ensure that there's no in-balance of teams getting relegated all from one region.

Anyway, that's just me rambling. I apologise. Hah.

Does anyone know websites where I can find league table histories for the East of Scotland and South of Scotland leagues? I can only find previous winners but I'd like to fill in data for the second and third-placed finishers too. What's the major cup for each league, too, or was it just the Qualifying cup? The Scottish pyramid is an unruly mess compared to the English one, it seems! Finding information on anything below the Third Division is proving a nightmare, too.

I know there's a website out there as I used it last year, but for some ridiculous reason I didn't bookmark it.

In other news, I've completed the league and cup histories down to the Northern Premier and FA Trophy for the English teams: see screen-shots below of a few teams' Honours pages a few seasons into the game. I still need to tweak reputations so that, for example, the Conference League Cup appears with the Conference leagues and not amongst the Northern Premier competitions and that the English League Cup is above the Northumbrian county cups - I'll get to that once I have information on the Scottish competitions.

I also noticed that Northumbria got to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in this last simulation test. Nice!

This looks great

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_of_Scotland_Football_League#List_of_winners

East of Scotland is in Past winners section of the above for you. Unfortunetly it doesnt have second place etc. Also after the 80's it shows The first divison of the East of Scotland.

I have been unable to find the south of scotland league however. Sorry.

Would be great to see my nation against yours! I always loose like 7-0 to France

This looks great

Thanks, glad you think so! I'll have a release ready in the next week or two, I'm bogged down with other things at present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_of_Scotland_Football_League#List_of_winners

East of Scotland is in Past winners section of the above for you. Unfortunetly it doesnt have second place etc. Also after the 80's it shows The first divison of the East of Scotland.

I have been unable to find the south of scotland league however. Sorry.

Cheers for trying, although I managed to find it again mostly by fluke - http://scottish-football-historical-archive.com/eastofscotlandleaguetables.htm - now I just need to work out which is the main cup competition for these teams, and then try to find some information on it. Ahaha.

Would be great to see my nation against yours! I always loose like 7-0 to France

Hah, that would make for an interesting challenge. I think this World Cup run was a bit of a fluke, normally my nation sits in the mid-40s of the world rankings when I run these five-year holiday tests. In this one, however, they were 11th!

Could anyone furnish me with links of game-ready club logos and/or tutorials on how to make them properly? This is the last major issue I need to address, aside from playing/non-playing staff and club stadia. Once I have these sorted out I think I'll put out a release version for download.

Sortitoutsi has alot. |Other than that the graphics forum would be the place to ask.

Sortitoutsi has alot. |Other than that the graphics forum would be the place to ask.

As far as I'm aware we get a verbal beating for asking requests on the Graphics forum on here. I'll check out the SUSIE forums though; I haven't been on those since '06 or so! I'd forgotten that they existed, in fact I'm fairly sure they didn't at one point. The Dugout is another one that seems to have disappeared over the years.

How are your databases (databii? Ahah) coming along?

ive had to take a break. The one i released last night had 4 downloads over night not sure what stage its at now. Got family in so can get away with the forums but editing is differant all together.

Yea i got a slating for it earlier. I was meaning they could link you to a tutorial to make them properly without too much biting.

ive had to take a break. The one i released last night had 4 downloads over night not sure what stage its at now. Got family in so can get away with the forums but editing is differant all together.

Yea i got a slating for it earlier. I was meaning they could link you to a tutorial to make them properly without too much biting.

I'm taking a bit of a break myself, I have square eyes from all this editing. I've just spent time cleaning up and adding to my my opening few posts in this thread instead, and I'm also pondering the inclusion of the Isle of Man (Mænavia) into my Northumbrian nation due to their cultural ties with the North and their proximity to Cumbria.

Good point about asking for tutorials; I'll get to it later on when I'm feeling less raggedy.

Yea adding the isle of man may add something to the league. Well maybe not compete with the top end teams but add to the lower leagues.

Yea adding the isle of man may add something to the league. Well maybe not compete with the top end teams but add to the lower leagues.

Yeah, I think you're right. Consider it done! Well, almost. Updates in the first post; I've included Galloway too and added a couple more local regions and greater regions.

Thats good arctoa. ill definetly be giving this a shot at some point. Although i still need to have a shot of nine-irons.

Thats good arctoa. ill definetly be giving this a shot at some point. Although i still need to have a shot of nine-irons.

County to country tester is your new job?

Doesn't the top division get incredibly boring with Newcastle and Sunderland dominating. What results are you getting with the Nwcastle - Gateshead derby for example, aren't the 'Heid getting stuffed every time?

I thought I would have Hull being dominant in my database but even Scunthorpe, lincoln and Grimsby have all been within a shot of winning the title in my tests! I think that with good testing the database will be far from boring.

Doesn't the top division get incredibly boring with Newcastle and Sunderland dominating. What results are you getting with the Nwcastle - Gateshead derby for example, aren't the 'Heid getting stuffed every time?

I thought I would have Hull being dominant in my database but even Scunthorpe, lincoln and Grimsby have all been within a shot of winning the title in my tests! I think that with good testing the database will be far from boring.

Gateshead seem to bounce between the top two divisions on mine, but there are never really any major stuffings that come about; I've kept the leagues small enough so that the gulf of class isn't too immense. There's a top three of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough but other teams come into it, especially after a few seasons. Additionally, the cup competitions contain plenty of upsets.

Besides, is that so different from the Premier League? Hahah.

I'll post up some derby-type results on my next holiday test and I'll look for any interesting cup runs too; I'm taking the weekend (or at least this evening) off from editing, though, as I was getting red-eye from glaring into the monitor for hours.

Speaking of Gateshead, I might do something about their finances (and stadium move) in-game as they seem to have something of a small-scale sugar daddy going on down there; I've seen their plans for a new stadium and they talk about getting into the Football League pretty seriously.

Speaking of Gateshead, I might do something about their finances (and stadium move).

In one of my tests mid table brigg had a brilliant cup run, got about 2 mil in the bank, then decided they needed a new stadium, took out a 7 mil loan and then finished mid table again because they couldnt afford to buy anybody... Made me LOL so much. I toned down the finances after that but a very good pair of cup run can still get a team 3 mil in the bank. I look forward to seeing this as a beta soon!

i look forward to this beta aswell.

Doesn't the top division get incredibly boring with Newcastle and Sunderland dominating. What results are you getting with the Nwcastle - Gateshead derby for example, aren't the 'Heid getting stuffed every time?

As requested, some results screen-shots. The first two are Newcastle-Gateshead matches and the other two show that the top teams don't always have their way against the smaller clubs.

In one of my tests mid table brigg had a brilliant cup run, got about 2 mil in the bank, then decided they needed a new stadium, took out a 7 mil loan and then finished mid table again because they couldnt afford to buy anybody... Made me LOL so much. I toned down the finances after that but a very good pair of cup run can still get a team 3 mil in the bank. I look forward to seeing this as a beta soon!

i look forward to this beta aswell.

I've just spent this afternoon adding basic information for all 60 clubs in the database; just finishing up with attendance averages and a few away kits at present. Also spent some time updating my introductary posts, which I'm fairly sure has become an information-overkill. Hahah.

I might stick out a pre-release sometime tomorrow; I've got a busy few days coming up so it would give folks a couple of evenings of testing to find flaws before I'm back and tinkering again.

I'm almost ready to roll with a beta release, just need to put the awards in at this stage. However, it'll be early tomorrow morning as fixing some cosmetic issues took a lot longer today than I thought it would. Once that's released I'm going to do some research into the graphics side of things in what free time I'll have, as I'm starting to become sick of the sight of the editor.

Thanks for your patience, those who are interested.

this looks amazing im not from that area but would be very interested in how this goes

i made a brand new country and i love seeing how the national team and players develop

cant wait to give this a play

Really cant wait till the full realese Arctoa.

Good luck

I'm starting to become sick of the sight of the editor.

Been there, got the t-shirt.. etc etc

In 09 it took me till Jan to finish my database, just shows how much of an improvement, I turned it around this year in about 5 weeks

yea i get sick of the editor from time to time aswell. I just load up a save and play for a while when that does my tits in back to editing the new database.

Been there, got the t-shirt.. etc etc

In 09 it took me till Jan to finish my database, just shows how much of an improvement, I turned it around this year in about 5 weeks

Yeah, the amount that I've got done in the time I've invested is epic compared to what I have achieved in the past. It would usually take me this long to get an unplayable league going in previous releases. Anyway, there's a beta up for download now in the first post.

Really cant wait till the full realese Arctoa.

Good luck

There's a beta now available in the first post if you want to take a look.

this looks amazing im not from that area but would be very interested in how this goes

i made a brand new country and i love seeing how the national team and players develop

cant wait to give this a play

Cheers for the interest and support; there's a beta version now available in the first post - any feedback and advice would be appreciated as this is going to be a perpetual work-in-progress, I think.

I will download the beta and try to apply what I have learnt from my database to help yours, is there anything you would specificly like me to look at? I have now got experience fixing graphics, finance, reputation, regen, long game issues, league fixture issues and club progress issues as well as a few more to do with clubs and acheiving what they should do...

Still applying these to mine but I am learning ways to overcome these all the time so hopefully I can be of some help.

this is going to be a perpetual work-in-progress, I think.

Custom databases pretty much always are, things come up the more they are played, unlike SI we dont have dedicated testers numbering as high as they have or as much time.

I think so far all the county to country or region to country databases look like really popular and sucessfull projects, even those in the beta stages.

I am thinking of doing Hampshire next, we really need our own thread, get on it wardog because well... I am too lazy

Custom databases pretty much always are, things come up the more they are played, unlike SI we dont have dedicated testers numbering as high as they have or as much time.

I think so far all the county to country or region to country databases look like really popular and sucessfull projects, even those in the beta stages.

I am thinking of doing Hampshire next, we really need our own thread, get on it wardog because well... I am too lazy

Theres one made already dowen the page.

I will download the beta and try to apply what I have learnt from my database to help yours, is there anything you would specificly like me to look at? I have now got experience fixing graphics, finance, reputation, regen, long game issues, league fixture issues and club progress issues as well as a few more to do with clubs and acheiving what they should do...

Still applying these to mine but I am learning ways to overcome these all the time so hopefully I can be of some help.

Anything would be grand, mate; just anything that sticks out as being a bit wrong when you're going through it. The finances are probably the most sketchy at present, and I'm also curious how the database is going to handle my expanded county cups once teams specifically included start getting relegated out of the system.

Custom databases pretty much always are, things come up the more they are played, unlike SI we dont have dedicated testers numbering as high as they have or as much time.

I think so far all the county to country or region to country databases look like really popular and sucessfull projects, even those in the beta stages.

I am thinking of doing Hampshire next, we really need our own thread, get on it wardog because well... I am too lazy

Yeah, I'll be tinkering with this all the way upto FM'11 at which point I'll wonder why I bothered at all... and then start again, hahah. i gave up on this update at least three times whilst in the midst of the early ground-work, so to have something stable enough to release in the end is a nice feeling.

Six downloads and counting! Happy days. Remember, your feedback is vital to help improve this update: anything that seems awry or anything that you disagree with, let me know. I've already implemented some cosmetic changes for the next update, but I'll be holding back on a further release 'til some game mechanics are in-check 'cause there are bound to be some loose connections right now.

Remember, your feedback is vital.

I will get back to you by saturday night with my comments, I hope that is not too late!

BTW, 6 is more than my latest version now I am on 5.

I guess you would get more as you have a bigger population in your chosen area, I will begin my hampshire project at the weekend after I have finished looking at yours.

I will get back to you by saturday night with my comments, I hope that is not too late!

BTW, 6 is more than my latest version now I am on 5.

I guess you would get more as you have a bigger population in your chosen area, I will begin my hampshire project at the weekend after I have finished looking at yours.

Heh; one of those downloads is me testing that the file worked, now that I think of it, so we're on an even keel.

The weekend is fine, mate; if anything it is ideal as I was planning on having a few days away from FM'10 to get some actual coursework done, hahah. I need to somehow work this database editing into my studies but the only thing I can think of is to make a fake website for my fake nation and even then the link to Photography is tenuous at best!

7 now for me!! Am I winning? BTW 1 of mine is also me testing, so you were still winning!

7 now for me!! Am I winning? BTW 1 of mine is also me testing, so you were still winning!

Hahah, I didn't know this was a race.