El RicKenco's Ambitious FM11 FIFA World Football League Project - Planning Stage

[Kenco]

Wow, that is massive! problem for me is that I might not be able to run the full version on my PC, I think it's too big. But I reckon we can still create it for those with super-computers (like Australian Stig), and I'll just be stuck playing the Lite version:(.

I'm trying to get the Advance Panel working to see if it will help with my national / regional cups, then I will draft up some provisional layouts for these.

[El_Ricardo]

I followed the instuctions on the Wiki but it still isn't active, not sure what I'm doing wrong. Can you give me a step-by-step guide?

Check this screen shot I took: http://a.imageshack.us/img231/8966/advancedc.jpg

Go through your folders and find the format folder hidden within the editor folder and copy the contents of the download in to there.

[Jorgen]

What is better for slower computers: more leagues with less teams in them, or less league with more teams each?

Other things about lite versions: you could check SB's England file to see what differs in the lite version.

Also there is an Australia league available here that has a structure with a big amount of regional leagues, that do not really have an effect on the game speed. Perhaps you can check out that too.

[magicmastermind124]

The good thing with the advanced panel is that you don't have to run all the leagues. Any lower-end cups can be run if you decide to run those leagues only - making any league flexible.

E.G In England the FA Trophy won't exist if you go down to League 2, but it will if you go to BSP.

[Kenco]

What is better for slower computers: more leagues with less teams in them, or less league with more teams each?

Other things about lite versions: you could check SB's England file to see what differs in the lite version.

Also there is an Australia league available here that has a structure with a big amount of regional leagues, that do not really have an effect on the game speed. Perhaps you can check out that too.

It's more about what players are loaded. If we have a ddt file to load all players from all clubs in the structure, then it will be massive. But if we don't load those players, many teams in the lower leagues will just have grey players.

[Jorgen]

If someone then ticks add key staff, they won't be all grey.

But indeed, all those players will make it load and process slower.

[Kenco]

Check this screen shot I took: http://a.imageshack.us/img231/8966/advancedc.jpg

Go through your folders and find the format folder hidden within the editor folder and copy the contents of the download in to there.

This is where I have it saved, yet still it does not work.

[rcoobc]

Why have you cut france in half! lol. Other than that looks great. You could do so much more using the advanced editor, but it would probably take longer. Btw, a massive problem I found with your database was the funds allocated to each division.

Anyway im not nick picking over a problem that can't be fixed in the basic editor, I might be available to help out a bit, Im not that reliable with timings unfortunately; jobs and uni.

[rcoobc]

O and btw, i have a funny feeling FM2011 will be delayed. Have you heard anything about beta tests, or anything? And yes I still think this even though zavvi have a release date up.

[BurnCM4X]

Youth leagues:

If the editor doesn't change the only way to create a league system with promotions/relegations is mostly with the system that i tried to implement on El_Ricardo update. (And did successfully on one of my updates) The downside of this way is that you will need to take a country for the U18 league and the update needs to be really well created. (I wasn't able to put it work on the El_Ricardo update yet cause of some squad issues the update has)

Advanced Panel:

I tried the panel and i think, for an update like this one, doesn't worth the time you will loose when using it. It should be used when trying to replicate an existing competition at the maximum detail. If not you better off with the normal mode.

Slower/Faster Computers and the possible different versions of the update:

When a high number of levels of divisions there's not much of a need for different versions of the update. (you just need to select the level you think your PC can handle)

Different versions of an update are useful when you have an higher number of "Other" competitions. (regional divisions for example)

Some other notes:

When creating the update be careful when adding the teams to the new created league. When adding a club i recommend additional testing to check if the club can be added without a problem to the new league. IF the club has B/2 teams affiliated (not when they are team squads) they should be keep in their nations division of possible. (and tested if the solution is working) This will avoid redoing all update when some incompatibilities are found.

Try to substitute the teams taken from their national competition. A possible solution would be cloning this teams and then adding them as an affiliated B/2 team on their respective competition. This would keep their leagues playable. (Instead of creating a reserve competition why not keep a B team on their respective league using the space left by the team transfered to the World League?)

Hope you guys won't take this suggestions wrong. Most of them are based on some of my mistakes and experiences.

[El_Ricardo]

Advanced Panel:

I tried the panel and i think, for an update like this one, doesn't worth the time you will loose when using it. It should be used when trying to replicate an existing competition at the maximum detail. If not you better off with the normal mode.

We will need to use the advanced panel to make the promotions and relegations work between the European regions that are CL5 and CL6, as I understand you can edit the values for the individual leagues yourself?

Why have you cut france in half! lol. Other than that looks great. You could do so much more using the advanced editor, but it would probably take longer. Btw, a massive problem I found with your database was the funds allocated to each division.

I had to - Europe is an awkward continent to regionalise. There's a couple of extra carve ups in the next one. This is only done because there's too many teams in a country to sustain a larger region. Are you referring to my or Kenco's world league by the way with regards to funding? Suggestions for alternative funding will be considered if you have any.

[El_Ricardo]

Right, I've been playing about with the advanced panel a bit more and I'm getting to grips with it. I'm very pleased to learn we have much more flexibility when creating the pyramid, so the draft I put up previously is certainly workable!

It also seems we can set up two legged playoff matches and pretty much anything else given a bit of imagination. It's a bit of work getting used to, but well worth it when you do!

[rcoobc]

El_Ricardo, I've been playing around with the advanced editor too. I'd love to see how your practice leagues are coming along, and if you get stuck / need someone to try a few things im open to help.

Without the advanced editor you can only assign prize money to the main domestic league (final position and initial money) and knockout rounds of cup competitions, and you can't edit continental cup competitions. You also can't assign different amounts of money to different branches of the tree of leagues (if that makes sense). I can't remember how your database worked but playing kencos was defiantly limited by this.

Basically I don't have any better ideas other than to use the advanced editor. Its a shame that you cant use the advanced editor and the regular in tandem. Hopefully the new one will be more advanced.

[Kenco]

Youth leagues:

If the editor doesn't change the only way to create a league system with promotions/relegations is mostly with the system that i tried to implement on El_Ricardo update. (And did successfully on one of my updates) The downside of this way is that you will need to take a country for the U18 league and the update needs to be really well created. (I wasn't able to put it work on the El_Ricardo update yet cause of some squad issues the update has)

Advanced Panel:

I tried the panel and i think, for an update like this one, doesn't worth the time you will loose when using it. It should be used when trying to replicate an existing competition at the maximum detail. If not you better off with the normal mode.

Slower/Faster Computers and the possible different versions of the update:

When a high number of levels of divisions there's not much of a need for different versions of the update. (you just need to select the level you think your PC can handle)

Different versions of an update are useful when you have an higher number of "Other" competitions. (regional divisions for example)

Some other notes:

When creating the update be careful when adding the teams to the new created league. When adding a club i recommend additional testing to check if the club can be added without a problem to the new league. IF the club has B/2 teams affiliated (not when they are team squads) they should be keep in their nations division of possible. (and tested if the solution is working) This will avoid redoing all update when some incompatibilities are found.

Try to substitute the teams taken from their national competition. A possible solution would be cloning this teams and then adding them as an affiliated B/2 team on their respective competition. This would keep their leagues playable. (Instead of creating a reserve competition why not keep a B team on their respective league using the space left by the team transfered to the World League?)

Hope you guys won't take this suggestions wrong. Most of them are based on some of my mistakes and experiences.

Youth Leagues (and Reserves): We have a plan in mind already to set these in a different nation, which should allow for promotion / relegation in the same way as any other league.

Advanced Panel: This will only be used when we need to (if I ever get it working), as El Ricardo said, things like 2-legged playoffs.

Slower/Faster Computers and the possible different versions of the update: I know the number of leagues included doesn't make too much difference, but if we load all players for every team in the structure using a ddt file like I did on my previous version, it will have a big effect.

Some other notes: Ideally the B/II teams will be moved to the Reserve Leagues, and I personally have no intention to replace teams to ensure the old league structures still work. Firstly, because it's a hell of a lot of work already and this would more than double the current workload to ensure every other league structure still worked. Secondly, the World League is a stand-alone system, so you don't need to run the other leagues (I hope El Ricardo agrees on this!)

[Kenco]

Rcoobc: Not sure what you mean about the prize money, I could assign amounts to every league position in every league if I wanted to, but as I went down the divisions I just gave it to teams finishing in higher positions, probably just the top 3. I don't think it was great the way I did it, but TV money was already good so I didn't feel the need to assign prize money to every position.

I know it couldn't be set at different levels within the same tier, but why would you need to? I don't see why the top team in Tier 8 in Europe should get more/less than the top team in Tier 8 of Africa.

[Kenco]

Right, I've been playing about with the advanced panel a bit more and I'm getting to grips with it. I'm very pleased to learn we have much more flexibility when creating the pyramid, so the draft I put up previously is certainly workable!

It also seems we can set up two legged playoff matches and pretty much anything else given a bit of imagination. It's a bit of work getting used to, but well worth it when you do!

Good news about the two-legged playoffs, I'm not sure my 5 team mini-league alternative is the way to go, much prefer two-leg semis and a big final at the national stadium.

With the Advanced Panel, what can you do with cup competitions with regard to group stages? Because I was wondering about the possibility of having 2 group stages like the Champions League used to do, or maybe a knockout round before a group stage, like the Europa League does now. Or perhaps a group stage which leads to knockout stage, but the big teams only come in at the knockout stage?

[El_Ricardo]

It's possible - you just need to go through a few steps to make it happen. It's not as easy to use as the basic editor, obviously; but not that hard either. I'm doing a few tests with it to see. Basically, if you've seen a similar competition play out within the game as a whole, it's possible to replicate with this advanced editor.

If we use the advanced panel, we have to create the whole league with it - it's currently not possible to use the 'out of the box' editor with it. So get tinkering! I should think we will know it back to front by the time the new game is out.

[rcoobc]

Kenco I guess it depends on your definition of wrong. Its fair to have all the teams paid the same amount of money, but a team in Europe is going to have to pay much higher wages than a team in africa.

[Kenco]

Kenco I guess it depends on your definition of wrong. Its fair to have all the teams paid the same amount of money, but a team in Europe is going to have to pay much higher wages than a team in africa.

But giving the African teams equal money allows them to pay high wages and possibly compete with the Europeans (unfortunately reputation still blocks this too much, but that can be changed)

[Kenco]

It's possible - you just need to go through a few steps to make it happen. It's not as easy to use as the basic editor, obviously; but not that hard either. I'm doing a few tests with it to see. Basically, if you've seen a similar competition play out within the game as a whole, it's possible to replicate with this advanced editor.

If we use the advanced panel, we have to create the whole league with it - it's currently not possible to use the 'out of the box' editor with it. So get tinkering! I should think we will know it back to front by the time the new game is out.

I'd like to get tinkering, but its still not working for me, need help!

[Joga Bonito]

Hey I'm a user of both of your custom leagues and I'd just like to add I'm looking forward to your collaboration for FM 11 and keep up the good work guys!

[Jorgen]

Kenco and El Ricardo, if you are looking for special ways to decide the divisions, then you could try to implement the Dutch or Israelian ways:

The way it is done in the Dutch Jupiler League (2nd level):

At the end of each season, the champion of the Eerste Divisie is automatically promoted to the Eredivisie.
Eight other clubs (before 2005/2006: six) enter the Nacompetitie, a promotion/relegation playoff that includes the 16th- and 17th-place clubs in the Eredivisie.
The following teams qualify for the Nacompetitie:

[list]
[*]The club with the best record in the "first period" of the season (after 6 rounds).
[*]The club with the best record in the "second period" of the season (rounds 7–12).
[*]The club with the best record in the "third period" of the season (rounds 13–18).
[*]The club with the best record in the "fourth period" of the season (rounds 19–24).
[*]The club with the best record in the "fifth period" of the season (rounds 25–30).
[*]The club with the best record in the "sixth period" of the season (rounds 31–36).
[*]The two remaining spots are filled at the season's end by the highest-placed clubs that have not already earned automatic promotion or qualified for the Nacompetitie.
[/list]
If the club that wins a period has qualified for the Nacompetitie by winning a previous period, its place is filled by the next-best club in that period that has not already qualified. Usually, the clubs that qualify for the Nacompetitie turn out to be the 2nd- through 9th-placed clubs in the final table. Clubs in the Nacompetitie face each other in a knock-out system with the numbers 16 and 17 of the Eredivisie for two places in next season's Eredivisie.

The Israelian way, as used in the top 2 levels:

In the 2 top flights, each team play each other twice, which means 30 matches. After these matches, the league is divided by three (places 1-6 will play each other once for the title, places 7-10 will play each other once for position prizes, and places 11-16 will play each other once for another season in the league), and points are halved with an odd number of points being rounded up. Which means, if you had 60 points, you'll have 30, and if you had 59 you'll have also 30. The point is to make the league more interesting by reducing the gaps in half (very unsportive if you ask me, almost got my team, Hapoel Ramat-Gan, relegated after we were safe).

Perhap both systems are to complicated to get in this, but if you want to add somethings special to particular levels, it is always good to think about other systems.

[El_Ricardo]

I'm not too fond of any 'fancy Dan' league systems - the Mexican one takes the biscuit for sure. The most which we'll do is a playoff between clubs from one division and another! Any creativity will be within the cup competitions.

Though when it comes to the national and regional 'off season' leagues... Well, we're open to lots of ideas. Will help give each one its own character.

[Jorgen]

Perhaps just copying or moving a regional league, will keep the "fancy Dan" rules (as you call them) intact for using in those lower leagues of your system.

I definitly keep an eye on this project

[El_Ricardo]

I'd like to get tinkering, but its still not working for me, need help!

Do you load the game from Steam by any chance?

Where exactly did you put the folders?

Jorgen - 'fancy Dan' is just an off hand way of stating that something is going too far, out of the ordinary or over the top. For example: "Cristiano Ronaldo is a 'fancy Dan' for all the step overs he tends to do".

[Vidic15]

Kenco and El Ricardo, if you are looking for special ways to decide the divisions, then you could try to implement the Dutch or Israelian ways:

The way it is done in the Dutch Jupiler League (2nd level):

At the end of each season, the champion of the Eerste Divisie is automatically promoted to the Eredivisie.
Eight other clubs (before 2005/2006: six) enter the Nacompetitie, a promotion/relegation playoff that includes the 16th- and 17th-place clubs in the Eredivisie.
The following teams qualify for the Nacompetitie:

[list]
[*]The club with the best record in the "first period" of the season (after 6 rounds).
[*]The club with the best record in the "second period" of the season (rounds 7–12).
[*]The club with the best record in the "third period" of the season (rounds 13–18).
[*]The club with the best record in the "fourth period" of the season (rounds 19–24).
[*]The club with the best record in the "fifth period" of the season (rounds 25–30).
[*]The club with the best record in the "sixth period" of the season (rounds 31–36).
[*]The two remaining spots are filled at the season's end by the highest-placed clubs that have not already earned automatic promotion or qualified for the Nacompetitie.
[/list]
If the club that wins a period has qualified for the Nacompetitie by winning a previous period, its place is filled by the next-best club in that period that has not already qualified. Usually, the clubs that qualify for the Nacompetitie turn out to be the 2nd- through 9th-placed clubs in the final table. Clubs in the Nacompetitie face each other in a knock-out system with the numbers 16 and 17 of the Eredivisie for two places in next season's Eredivisie.

The Israelian way, as used in the top 2 levels:

Perhap both systems are to complicated to get in this, but if you want to add somethings special to particular levels, it is always good to think about other systems.

Forgot a little thing about the Israeli structure: The team that finished 14th, will play the team that finished 3rd in the lower level for a one-leg playoff match in a neutral venue.

[Kenco]

El Ricardo: No I don't use steam. I have the folders in exactly the same place as your screenie showed, have downloaded WinRAR as well.

Agree with you on the Fancy Dan leagues, they are a bit too crazy for me, and not really fair. A team could have a run of easy games and qualify, and then be pants for the rest of the season. So the league system will just be regular end of season playoffs, based on English and Scottish leagues.

But we are open to Fancy Dans in the national / regional competitions. Although they will be quite small (limited to maybe 10 or 12 games before the League campaign starts), there is room for some creativity amongst these.

[El_Ricardo]

So which non-FIFA countries would users like to see in the next database? I have a feeling I could overwrite a few of the inactive nations without too much trouble. So far I've shortlisted Gibralter, Greenland, Northern Cyprus, Tibet and Kosovo as inclusions. I'm drawing a red-line through the Vatican however - I'm not even sure they have a team.

[DanGLiverpool]

So which non-FIFA countries would users like to see in the next database? I have a feeling I could overwrite a few of the inactive nations without too much trouble. So far I've shortlisted Gibralter, Greenland, Northern Cyprus, Tibet and Kosovo as inclusions. I'm drawing a red-line through the Vatican however - I'm not even sure they have a team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City_national_football_team They have one, nothing major though.

[El_Ricardo]

I might create a separate team called 'Vatican City', but still keep them Italian as a compromise I think. That's if Kenco agrees anyway.

The Pope can be chairman!

[Kenco]

I might create a separate team called 'Vatican City', but still keep them Italian as a compromise I think. That's if Kenco agrees anyway.

The Pope can be chairman!

Ha ha, I like this idea!

[Kenco]

Still have no Advanced Panel by the way, I followed the instructions on the Wiki page and have the file in the same place as El Ricardo's screenshot, but it's not working. Unless someone can give me an idiot's guide to starting this up, I am stuck with basic editor.

Edit: Frustration has got the better of me. Uninstalling the game....

[BurnCM4X]

So which non-FIFA countries would users like to see in the next database? I have a feeling I could overwrite a few of the inactive nations without too much trouble. So far I've shortlisted Gibralter, Greenland, Northern Cyprus, Tibet and Kosovo as inclusions. I'm drawing a red-line through the Vatican however - I'm not even sure they have a team.

It will work... i've done it and worked well on my U23/U18 Portuguese league. In theory, if your not going to create a league for the country you can create them and add the club to the recently created country. It will probably work.

[BurnCM4X]

Still have no Advanced Panel by the way, I followed the instructions on the Wiki page and have the file in the same place as El Ricardo's screenshot, but it's not working. Unless someone can give me an idiot's guide to starting this up, I am stuck with basic editor.

Edit: Frustration has got the better of me. Uninstalling the game....

If you want i can send you my folder and you just need to unrar it to your pc...

[El_Ricardo]

Kenco - I hope it works for you, because I cant imagine the next iteration of this project without the advanced rules now. We can actually specify which leagues correspond with which with regards to promotion and relegation, thus rendering most regional muddles redundant. It's pretty fiddly - the main learning curve is getting used to the tree menu on the left hand side. We wont even be using most of the options, unless we want to create complicated competition qualifications or fancy competitions in general. The most 'out there' thing we'd have to format is how the losers from a preliminary stage of the Diamond League are shuffled in to the Emerald League (Europa League equivalent).

[JimmyIOCS]

I've never used one of your world leagues before, but I'm very interested in this project. If it's done right, it could be a lot of fun. I have a few questions. I'm not sure if you'll be able to answer them all as I don't know how much you've actually decided on.

1. How will the reserve/youth leagues work? Will they be set up in the same format as the main league, with the same clubs in the same divisions? Obviously it wouldn't stay like that past the first season, with different teams getting promoted and relegated. Or are you planning to have a more simple structure? I think having an identical format would be better, but I wouldn't be too disappointed if you went a different way.

2. Will the reserve structure be in a different country to the youth one? That doesn't really matter to the player I guess, just wondering.

3. Will the youth and reserve sides be set up like Germany or Spain? Like, will they be affiliated B and C clubs, or actually part of the club? I've never really liked the Spain system, but it depends on whether you want the ability to manage reserve and youth sides. If you have that option, it takes away the ability to manage a club team and also take control of the reserves and youth. Swings and roundabouts really.

4. I've had a quick glance at El Ricardo's FM10 league, and the reserve side is actually an under 21 side with the option of playing a few older players in it. Is that the plan for this league? It's an interesting idea, but I think it would be more beneficial to be able to select anyone for your reserve side. Most people are going to use it for young players anyway, so I don't see the need to place restrictions on them. Just one man's opinion though, I don't know what the majority of the community would prefer.

5. Have you decided on what format the cups will have? I like the idea of the FIFA Cup having every club involved. I think after a preliminary knockout round to get the number of teams into a good cup number (1024 or something), it would be really great to have a one legged knockout competition with no seeding. A tiny team about 7 tiers down can be hoping to draw one of the giants at home etc. Personally, I'm not sure about the clubs' first team competing in a youth cup, as the reserve and youth leagues would have their own cups I assume. You mentioned an 'Emerald League' in your last post. What is that exactly?

6. Will international teams and competitions still be working? Also, will players be generated that are of FIFA nationality?

7. What sort of squad restrictions, if any, are you thinking about?

8. What awards are you planning on? I've only ever created leagues based on one nation, and had quite simple awards. It was basically nine awards for each division, with no overall national awards, just ones for the specific league you were in. For example, I had:

Manager of the Year

Player of the Year

Young Player of the Year (aged 21 or under)

Team of the Year (4-4-2, no subs)

Golden Boot

Silver Boot (most assists)

Golden Glove (the lack of a 'most clean sheets' option meant I went with minimum % of games played and least goals conceded, which I was never truly happy with)

Manager of the Month

Player of the Month

I toyed with Young Manager of the Year/Month, Young Team of the Year, Young Player of the Month, etc, but in the end, decided they were just clutter and settled on those nine. Just wondering if you'd decided on what awards will be created.

9. Will all other world club competitions be disabled? I'm thinking all the clubs that aren't used in the initial structure will be in a seperate division(s) for possible promotion to the pyramid. Although if that's too much hassle, I think no promotion/relegation at the bottom tier would work fine. But I think it would be irritating to have a national league going on in somewhere like Iceland while you're playing.

10. This might be a stupid idea, but I think non-used competition's history should be deleted. Just for the fact that this new structure's history is really the only thing that will matter in game. Having Man Utd's championship history from real life competitions is just going to clutter up the competition history page with stuff that really isn't relevent anymore.

Sorry for all the questions, but it's a really interesting project and I'm curious about it. Some of them might be stupidly obvious to most people, but for the people like me who haven't played either of your world leagues, it might clear some stuff up.

And good luck!

[Jorgen]

If there are not enough countries for you to edit, to put every non-Fifa-team in it, you could also decide to rename one nation as non-Fifa or something like that. Just give the teams and their cities the right coordinates and languages and you'd be fine, I guess.

A team could then be something like this:

Teamname	Nation		City (Stadiumlocation)
FC Vatican	Non-Fifa	Vatican City, Vatican
KF Prishtina	Non-Fifa	Pristina, Kosovo

[JimmyIOCS]

If there are not enough countries for you to edit, to put every non-Fifa-team in it, you could also decide to rename one nation as non-Fifa or something like that. Just give the teams and their cities the right coordinates and languages and you'd be fine, I guess.

The advanced panel enables you to create a nation from scratch I believe, so that shouldn't be an issue.

[Jorgen]

Yes, but if I recall correctly those entirely newly created nations (and / or continents) do not show up in the game, the way you want.

[JimmyIOCS]

Oh, really? That's a bitch.

[Kenco]

If there are not enough countries for you to edit, to put every non-Fifa-team in it, you could also decide to rename one nation as non-Fifa or something like that. Just give the teams and their cities the right coordinates and languages and you'd be fine, I guess.

A team could then be something like this:

Teamname Nation City (Stadiumlocation)
FC Vatican Non-Fifa Vatican City, Vatican
KF Prishtina Non-Fifa Pristina, Kosovo

I like this idea, it will get the teams in the game without too much hassle of creating new nations.

[Kenco]

If you want i can send you my folder and you just need to unrar it to your pc...

Thanks, I'm going to reinstall and re-patch tomorrow (bit busy today) and try to download it again and hopefully it will work.

[Kenco]

I've never used one of your world leagues before, but I'm very interested in this project. If it's done right, it could be a lot of fun. I have a few questions. I'm not sure if you'll be able to answer them all as I don't know how much you've actually decided on.

1. How will the reserve/youth leagues work? Will they be set up in the same format as the main league, with the same clubs in the same divisions? Obviously it wouldn't stay like that past the first season, with different teams getting promoted and relegated. Or are you planning to have a more simple structure? I think having an identical format would be better, but I wouldn't be too disappointed if you went a different way.

Not sure yet, but using the same structure would be my preference.

2. Will the reserve structure be in a different country to the youth one? That doesn't really matter to the player I guess, just wondering.

Probably will be set in a separate nation again, but this depends on the editor.

3. Will the youth and reserve sides be set up like Germany or Spain? Like, will they be affiliated B and C clubs, or actually part of the club? I've never really liked the Spain system, but it depends on whether you want the ability to manage reserve and youth sides. If you have that option, it takes away the ability to manage a club team and also take control of the reserves and youth. Swings and roundabouts really.

Personally I would rather have them all as part of the club, like the English system. It will certainly be easier to make them all this way rather than B and C teams, but we haven't discussed this yet, so it's not confirmed.

4. I've had a quick glance at El Ricardo's FM10 league, and the reserve side is actually an under 21 side with the option of playing a few older players in it. Is that the plan for this league? It's an interesting idea, but I think it would be more beneficial to be able to select anyone for your reserve side. Most people are going to use it for young players anyway, so I don't see the need to place restrictions on them. Just one man's opinion though, I don't know what the majority of the community would prefer.

I would prefer reserves to be for any age, because we also have a separate youth team, but again, this is still to be decided.

5. Have you decided on what format the cups will have? I like the idea of the FIFA Cup having every club involved. I think after a preliminary knockout round to get the number of teams into a good cup number (1024 or something), it would be really great to have a one legged knockout competition with no seeding. A tiny team about 7 tiers down can be hoping to draw one of the giants at home etc. Personally, I'm not sure about the clubs' first team competing in a youth cup, as the reserve and youth leagues would have their own cups I assume. You mentioned an 'Emerald League' in your last post. What is that exactly?

That is the way I did my main cup in FM10, Tier 7 down entered the first round and everbody was in the second round for a one-off match. A bad point though, is that it can take a while to process so many matches at once, and will be a lot worse if we did it for this project. It's something we will test and discuss. Emerald League is the equivalent of the Europa League (I think?)

6. Will international teams and competitions still be working? Also, will players be generated that are of FIFA nationality?

Yes, Internationals will unaffected. No, regens will retain the nationality of their clubs.

7. What sort of squad restrictions, if any, are you thinking about?

Again, this hasn't been discussed, so it will be added to the agenda (note to self and El Ricardo: we need to make an agenda!)

8. What awards are you planning on? I've only ever created leagues based on one nation, and had quite simple awards. It was basically nine awards for each division, with no overall national awards, just ones for the specific league you were in. For example, I had:

Manager of the Year

Player of the Year

Young Player of the Year (aged 21 or under)

Team of the Year (4-4-2, no subs)

Golden Boot

Silver Boot (most assists)

Golden Glove (the lack of a 'most clean sheets' option meant I went with minimum % of games played and least goals conceded, which I was never truly happy with)

Manager of the Month

Player of the Month

I toyed with Young Manager of the Year/Month, Young Team of the Year, Young Player of the Month, etc, but in the end, decided they were just clutter and settled on those nine. Just wondering if you'd decided on what awards will be created.

Not decided, but will be pretty straightforward, similar to your list I would imagine.

9. Will all other world club competitions be disabled? I'm thinking all the clubs that aren't used in the initial structure will be in a seperate division(s) for possible promotion to the pyramid. Although if that's too much hassle, I think no promotion/relegation at the bottom tier would work fine. But I think it would be irritating to have a national league going on in somewhere like Iceland while you're playing.

We will be disabling the World Club Championship and any other competition that might run as a result of setting the league in Ocenia, but I don't think there are any. The European Champions League won't run anyway since you aren't selecting any leagues from Europe. Clubs not used in the structure will not be used at all, they'll just be left to rot.

10. This might be a stupid idea, but I think non-used competition's history should be deleted. Just for the fact that this new structure's history is really the only thing that will matter in game. Having Man Utd's championship history from real life competitions is just going to clutter up the competition history page with stuff that really isn't relevent anymore.

I agree that it's pointless having those histories, but it's another chore to remove them from the game for every club involved, so we might just leave it.

Sorry for all the questions, but it's a really interesting project and I'm curious about it. Some of them might be stupidly obvious to most people, but for the people like me who haven't played either of your world leagues, it might clear some stuff up.

Hope this helps, but we will have a much clearer picture over the next few months.

And good luck!

Thanks!

[JimmyIOCS]

10. This might be a stupid idea, but I think non-used competition's history should be deleted. Just for the fact that this new structure's history is really the only thing that will matter in game. Having Man Utd's championship history from real life competitions is just going to clutter up the competition history page with stuff that really isn't relevent anymore.

I agree that it's pointless having those histories, but it's another chore to remove them from the game for every club involved, so we might just leave it.

I think you only need to clear the history of the competitions, rather than each club. I think the club history is just a cosmetic reference, I don't think it actually affects the competition history for the club, if that makes sense. Clearing all competition history would maybe still be a lot of work that isn't needed I guess. But maybe if one of you knows how to set up a macro, these jobs could be done painlessly. I don't know anything about them myself though.

[Kenco]

Clearing the history of every competition in the game? Probably won't take too long actually. But then maybe it's nice that teams still retain their history.

[El_Ricardo]

I'm not in favour of deleting team's history. Yes, it's a new structure, but they've still done things prior to it! The league and cup histories of these tournaments will start from scratch anyway, and will feature in the club's profile.

Kenco - what should we be adding to this agenda?

Jorgen - I'm not too sure about the non-fifa nation, because it will generate regens of the 'non-fifa' nationality. There's still enough inactive nations in the database, unless you expect extra tiny pacific island teams in there too. I'm undecided whether to overwrite the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Zaire and Yugoslavia though. Will this conflict with the histories of Russia, Czech Rep./Slovakia, DR Congo and Serbia respectively? (Edit - never mind, I've found a way to get around this - international competition histories will be replaced with the modern day equivalent).

Also, to appease any potential unrest from Cyrpiot users of this database, I probably wont make Northern Cyprus. Instead as a compromise, I'll create the Northern Cypriot teams and asign them to Turkey. Nations to add so far are:

Gibralter

Greenland

Kosovo

Kiribati

Palau

Nauru

Tibet

Niue Island

Federated States of Micronesia

[Kenco]

Not sure yet, but might be an idea to have a list of things we need to do, and then discuss them one at a time. At the moment there are a lot of questions / requests coming in and we are answering as we go along, but I'm sure we will disagree on some of these and need to discuss them.

Not really needed just yet, let's see what we can do with the AP (advanced panel) first.

[El_Ricardo]

Oh and by the way, just to clarify - the Emerald League is the secondary worldwide club group competition. It covers those teams within the Premier Leagues and Challenge League 1. Teams that failed to qualify for the Diamond League (worldwide Champions League) are also inserted in to it, as are the third placed teams from the group stage of the Diamond League. There may also be a Cup Winners Cup type competition for those teams which win their national/regional off season tournaments, called the Sapphire Shield.

[BurnCM4X]

The advanced panel enables you to create a nation from scratch I believe, so that shouldn't be an issue.

You don't need the Advanced Panel for that, normal mode will do the same thing.

[JimmyIOCS]

Has scheduling been considered yet? There seems to be a lot of competitions running alongside each other. Will there be enough dates on the calender?