Will our saves ever be able to be continued in a new version of FM?

I don't play on FM like I used to and therefore by the time I've really got into a save, say 4 or 5 seasons, it's almost time to bring out a new FM. Are there any plans from SI to allow users to continue their old save games on the new version of FM? Sorry if this question has been posed hundreds of times!

Do you mean patch? If yes, then yes.

If you mean continue from fm 10 to fm 11, then no.

The latter. I know it's not possible now, I mean in the future. Is it just a completely different code which would make it impossible or what?

If this is possible for SI to do that then I applaud them. However this would create so much bugs with new feature added and so on so that's the biggest problem of all.

Should be coding problems. And there are newer features in a newer FM which are not coded into the old FM.

I would like this, but I realise it'd be difficult to implement, I'd rather they spent their time making sure the next edition of the game is great rather than making allowances for older games.

Okay. So how about a converter that extracts some information and incorporates it into the new version, such as: year of save game, staff (both playing and non-playing), clubs etc., history, achievements and so forth - all the data which is editable pre-game and with a save game editor for example, just in the new surroundings? Still not possible?

I would say the chances of anything like this happening are very low. There are too many changes under the hood between versions for this to be practical.

How about the idea of just extracting the data from an old save to a new one? Same?

Even in a simple program where you serialize an object and save it, if you add new behaviour that the program depends on, you won't be able to load the object because it's missing the newly added behaviour. In a program the size of FM it would be a gigantic headache trying to design code in a way that a saved game would be usable with a new version. I suppose there would have to be a load of redundant behaviour added to FM11 that isn't yet implemented, ready to be implemented in FM12. Not practical really!

"How about the idea of just extracting the data from an old save to a new one? Same?"

This is interesting as, like you say, you are only talking about exporting stats etc. i suppose the problem arises when a new category is added. How do you populate that in the new game.

This would be a GREAT feature though. So many times I've either left a long term save that I was enjoying just because I got the new game, or even not bought the new game because I was still enjoying the old one.

I would say the chances of anything like this happening are very low. There are too many changes under the hood between versions for this to be practical.

Hi Ter,

Wouldn't be possible to create some kind of convertor? This "programam" would convert the save file to the new format.

A converter could work. Some stats will be the same in both games and the converter tool could either randomise the missing ones or calculate them based on other ones. Tactics could work the same - some aspects are the same, like forward runs, run with ball, and set piece takers, and the new areas could be set to a default.

Depends what's hard coded and what's database driven - but a rudimentary conversion is possible.

"but a rudimentary conversion is possible."

This sort of thing would do me. I'd be happy to work out new tactics and training methods etc on the new game. What i'd essentially want to copy over is my squad (and obviously all the other squads in game) plus stuff like my managerial history, tropheys won etc. I had a great game going on FM2010 where i'd worked my way up from Aberystwyth in the Welsh Prem, to Standard Liege in Belgium. Then I read about new features in FM2011 that I just couldn't be without!! Really wanted to take the FM world me (and all the stats\tropheys I'd earned) with me!

"but a rudimentary conversion is possible."

This sort of thing would do me. I'd be happy to work out new tactics and training methods etc on the new game. What i'd essentially want to copy over is my squad (and obviously all the other squads in game) plus stuff like my managerial history, tropheys won etc. I had a great game going on FM2010 where i'd worked my way up from Aberystwyth in the Welsh Prem, to Standard Liege in Belgium. Then I read about new features in FM2011 that I just couldn't be without!! Really wanted to take the FM world me (and all the stats\tropheys I'd earned) with me!

Yeah! Just taking the history for the next FM. Let's say you are in year 2050 in a save with FM2011, when you go to play in FM2012, you start in 2050 with all the history behind.

The tactics and all that would have to be create, since the new ME would be different (something like now when you install a new patch and play your current save).

My computer/technology skills are -zero so bear with me.

Would it not be possible to update your game on a monthly, quarterly or whatever time scale basis at a cost similar, pro rata, to the annual cost of a new game. Surely then bugs could be ironed out as the game goes along rather than what appears to be a glut of them with each annual release.

Players such as myself who do not buy the game every year could perhaps buy the updates every couple of years for the price of a new game.

Just an idea. Not sure if it could be done.

In theory (I posted this a while back) you could extract most of the data and convert it, but someone would need to write the converter. Or, if you take things to the extreme, you could use the editor to enter all the data manually

I'm talking about things like player attributes, teams and leagues, stadiums, bank accounts etc. You'd obviously lose a lot of the history (media etc.) all training regimes, tactics and so on, but that's unlikely to be a killer. New attributes could easily be assigned based roughly on a player's position and general ability.

Writing a converter wouldn't even be that big a deal if you knew the database structure in both the old and new FM.

It would be nice if somebody came up with a program like this, although for me if the year of your save couldn't stay as it was, i.e. 2030 or whatever, it'd be no use. I wouldn't want a scenario in which all the players you had were in 2012 (you'd probably end up with a load of players who were minus 34 years old or something due to hid date of birth )

It would be nice if somebody came up with a program like this, although for me if the year of your save couldn't stay as it was, i.e. 2030 or whatever, it'd be no use. I wouldn't want a scenario in which all the players you had were in 2012 (you'd probably end up with a load of players who were minus 34 years old or something due to hid date of birth )

The idea would be that you'd select a save game and have a new database populated in the new version with the same data as in the save.

There would consequently be no way of knowing what happened in 2012.

From a technical point of view, this is very possible. However, it could only be done by SI I think, due to having to be reasonably familiar with their database structures and coding methods. However, from a programming point of view, converting data across the two games can be done. Don't hold your breath though. I'd ask in the Editor's forum first, there's some people in there who have experience building software who might point you in the right direction.