Football Manager Early Access Beta *Official* Feedback Thread - 18.0.3

[Firehouse]

This 'hotfix' made the game barely playable atm. Seriously hoping that another hotfix will be released today, as it's just too slow now. Game was running great after 18.0.2, I had no problems whatsoever. But after latest fix, it's horrible. Tactical changes take ages, continue is unresponsive, team talks are slow. I press continue, nothing happens. Then I press it again, and then it forwards twice, so I missed half of my teamtalks now.

[Chris21]

Seems to me that when certain fixes are made, other issues come up. That's why it's a Beta though, be patient people I'm sure it'll be fine for release day

[Neil Brock]

18 minutes ago, Firehouse said:

This 'hotfix' made the game barely playable atm. Seriously hoping that another hotfix will be released today, as it's just too slow now. Game was running great after 18.0.2, I had no problems whatsoever. But after latest fix, it's horrible. Tactical changes take ages, continue is unresponsive, team talks are slow. I press continue, nothing happens. Then I press it again, and then it forwards twice, so I missed half of my teamtalks now.

We're aware of some slowdown still in the game, especially on the match screen and we're making changes in this area in time for release. Thanks. 

[gotti]

4 hours ago, turgi said:

Anyone else get that after making a sub? 

Yes, I just realised this, too.

[Firehouse]

7 minutes ago, Neil Brock said:

We're aware of some slowdown still in the game, especially on the match screen and we're making changes in this area in time for release. Thanks. 

So we can bin the game for the next few days.

[McClane29]

40 minutes ago, Aksi92 said:

A lot of conceded goals from indirect free kicks. How can I prevent this?

More importantly, where are the goal frames/nets in this match?

They're barely visible!

[Bry]

15 hours ago, CJG21 said:

When searching for staff, why can you no longer filter by first team/under23/under18 realistic appointments from the main screen? Since this latest update it's been moved into the "New Search" popup, and it doesn't make any sense as to why. Just makes it more difficult to change it.

Because the theme of FM18 is seemingly to make us click the mouse button as many times as possible to give us RSI.

[davehanson]

41 minutes ago, Firehouse said:

So we can bin the game for the next year.

Fixed

[screwyiimp]

in my finance im spending £400k a month on ground maintenance surely a 100k a week on a lick of paint etc is a bit to much im leeds in the championship they own there ground so why the need to spend nearly 5 million a season keeping it clean is this a bug ?

[Seb Wassell]

Just now, screwyiimp said:

in my finance im spending £400k a month on ground maintenance surely a 100k a week on a lick of paint etc is a bit to much im leeds in the championship they own there ground so why the need to spend nearly 5 million a season keeping it clean is this a bug ?

Ground maintenance is a bit more than paint and cleaning. But if you are concerned with this number could you please post in our bugs section and we will take look for you, cheers.

[DazRTaylor]

On 11/4/2017 at 13:11, roykela said:

FM18 Feedback:

- Dynamics. Couldn't care less about the dynamics. Especially at the moment when it's very, very sensitive and over the top. At my current club all players opposed me when i arrived.
  Now there are 22 players (entire first team squad) who have no real opinion of me. Things have improved massively.
  Still, if there is only one player that is on the "oppose you" side and none on the "support you" side there will be meetings left and right because of the bad dressingroom atmosphere.

- Scouting. Find it extremely tedious and user unfriendly. Packages are all well and good but it's just so clunky and tedious.
  The system and presentation with different players in FM17 was almost perfect, for me. Being given a report card, as a news item, with clickable cards that disappear i find bafflingly weird.
  Just give me a list of players and i'll review those myself. Almost everything about it is just tedious and has taken a few steps back in user friendliness.

- UI in general. Clunky. User unfriendly. So many additional clicks compared to what was right there in previous versions.
  It's not that long ago since SI was on a mission trying to reduce clicks to get where you wanted to go, while being presented with as much relevant information as possible.
  That has gone some way backwards.
  Tactics during a match i find very annoying. You have a pitch tab and a list tab. I want the information on both screens on the same screen. As in when you click the 3rd option at the top left.
  That's the screen that should be presented to me. There i have all the information i want and need. And it could only take one click as well to get there. And on top of it, the Pitch tab has the pitch horizontally instead of vertically.
  The Team Instructions, when clicking Tactics in-match, Set Pieces and OI have the same background as Mentality, Familiarity and Intensity. There's an indicator that shows they are different (in this case, clickable) but it would be nice
  if they had something else (different background, being visibly boxed etc.) to indicate they are clickable items.
  Highlights and messages in-match being at the top of the screen. I'd like that to be at the bottom of the screen. Now, for me, all of the just fades away. I don't have my eyes up there at all.
  I like to focus downwards. If it's up there, as mentioned, it just fades away and i will end up ignoring it completely.

- Pre-match Briefing. Don't care. Just more annoying clicks.

Agree entirely, especially the parts I have quoted above.  The whole FM experience this year just feels like a huge chore and unless things are fixed - the four items above being the priority for me - then I will not bother this year.  I have 70 hours play time for FM18 so it isn't as if I haven't given it my best shot.  I am back with FM17.

(In fairness to SI, this IS a beta, so things could change.  Though I doubt it).

[wicksyFM]

I pray to the FM Gods that the player search screen returns to what it was in FM17.  if i want to change an attribute it takes to many clicks. I cant just glance up to see what parameters i have put in my filter, its all hidden. Not intuitive at all

Edited November 5, 2017 by wicksyFM

[zigaliro]

The match stats window during the match still hasn`t been improved! Come on! It still doesn`t go transparent and you still can`t see the percentages if you make the window small.

[Bry]

Positives so far:

Scouting is more challenging and fun.

Match engine animations are slick and goalkeepers (AI and ratings) much improved.

UI outside of match are subtly better.

Opposition reports are more useful.

Major/Minor issues red/green zones on tactics screen are really cool.

Personalised vs Position instructions are a welcome addition (though would be nice if some instructions transferred to wherever they played)

I do think if all problems are dealt with, FM18 could be spectacular, but....

--------

Negatives so far:

Match experience is an absolute war of attrition due to clunky navigation which bears no aesthetic relationship with main game, and waiting time for even the smallest tactical changes is obscene!

Half-time and full-time team-talks are really slow in latest update.

Forwards ratings seem overly harsh if they don't score a goal.

FM17 had a wonderful menu navigation system that minimised number of clicks needed (e.g. Shouts: 'Calm>concentrate) FM18 Beta nonsensically ditches this ethos especially for match UI.

'Match Plans' are next to useless. I never use them.

Opposition instructions need that 'i' icon next to each player as in FM17.

Too many crosses end up as shots.

Set piece editing is so time consuming and constantly need tweaking when personnel change.

In game 'widgets/windows' don't overlay to front of screen when you click on them and don't go transparent when action taking place behind.

Team-talks for oncoming subs seem to have no effect.

Tactical meetings add very little and only reactions from squad seem to be for 'getting used to formation' and 'attacking'.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Bry

[jc1]

Had a wee play around after the latest hotfix,  ME  seems fairly decent, the pitches and ball are much better, able to see the ball and the green pitch isn't hurting my eyes. Still got the annoying crowd noise at half/full time team talks, really hope they get that fixed as it's a head nipper.

One thing I have noticed is the hassle just to look for a coach etc, before we had drop down tabs and you clicked what type of coach you wanted. Now there's a huge list of all coaches available to you and you now have to open an advanced search and add all the levels of coaching wanted before it shows you the ones available to you, too many unnecessary clicks.

All in all a big improvement to the earlier beta release.

[pizzachips]

With the recent hotfixes there are evidently big improvements based on what im reading across social media. but as far as the overall consensus goes, are people now enjoying playing the game? 

[Bry]

2 minutes ago, pizzachips said:

With the recent hotfixes there are evidently big improvements based on what im reading across social media. but as far as the overall consensus goes, are people now enjoying playing the game? 

Were it not for the criminally long pauses during the matches, yes.

[RandomGuy.]

I'm still enjoying this game. Scouting and hiring staff is more realistic as I'm now forced to use scout reports instead of searching for players, while I also need to advertise for staff roles instead of the minefield of trying to find staff. 

No slowdown or anything for me, only problem I now have is when I'm selecting my team in the tactics section. Fill up my first team, and then when I right click on a player to select them on the bench, all the selected players names completely vanish. 

[Dagenham_Dave]

Have the people experiencing slowdown since the last fix done any of the following

1 - Cleared the cache and reloaded the skin

2 - Downloaded any graphics, ie facepacks, backgrounds, etc

I only ask because my game is rapid now after the last update, and I did point 1 before I started, and I've got no extra downloads going on. I did previously d/load a background pack but it kept crashing the game. 

[ChelseaSince86]

2 hours ago, Neil Brock said:

We're aware of some slowdown still in the game, especially on the match screen and we're making changes in this area in time for release. Thanks. 

Does that include a fix for what seems to be a slowdown in actual processing of days?  

[GC28]

In general nice work,

Not sure about the music, very FIFA.

Issues so far are mainly around the UI, it's really not user friendly and slows gameplay down in areas.

Below is a case in point, the in game tactic screen compared to the full tactics screen, this is now an extra click away, after the work that's gone into the main tactics screen for this year it doesn't make much sense to use this basic menu.

If anyone knows of a way to switch this around for good do let me know.

 

7

Full tactics screen:

Small thing but I've found myself brushing passed the number of offers button a few times, this then fades the rest of the screen, an unwanted transition that slows screen flow down.

 

That's just my input, but thanks for the hard work SI.

 

[Neil Brock]

Just now, ChelseaSince86 said:

Does that include a fix for what seems to be a slowdown in actual processing of days?  

Yes. I think it's made worse by the processing icon pausing at points when the game is actually processing. But yes, it's part of the issue. Thanks. 

[Dagenham_Dave]

I have to say, I'm really surprised that I seem to have been the only person on here to mention the fact you can't see the tactical analysis on the pitch view during a match, meaning when you make a formation change during a game, you don't get to see its strengths or weaknesses or any of the 'dynamic' lines between the players. Baffling how this would be implemented so well pre-game but not during it. 

The fact I've never seen more people complain about this leads me to think there's a hidden button somewhere that releases this feature...

[SOULjah]

In match UI especially when using opposition instructions and freekick set ups are not fading a little so you can see the match going on behind the window, it has been reported in UI bugs and Match Engine bugs but currently have no replies to this issue. The only way I can see myself getting round this is to pause the match when I want to make a change and restarting the match when I have made all my tactical changes and this is something I do not want to do, effects realism to me.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Handstar

[Mistaa]

You may aware of that, Monchi has both Roma and Sevilla between 2000-2017 in his history.

http://prntscr.com/h6iw4g

Also after the update 18.0.3, game speed has slowed down with a newly created game.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Mistaa

[forums]

4 hours ago, pedrosantos said:

Does anyone feel the player movement on the pitch is a lot more robotic than is previous years ???

I do yes

[SebastianRO]

1 minute ago, forums said:

I do yes

I would say NO. If you use a high speed gameplay during 3d match, it may appear to be robotic, but if you use just 1-2 notches > standard, the player movement is actually very fluent and natural. This is the best part of FM18 (as far as im concerned): the 3d animations/reactions and movement on the pitch.

[forums]

1 minute ago, SebastianRO said:

I would say NO. If you use a high speed gameplay during 3d match, it may appear to be robotic, but if you use just 1-2 notches > standard, the player movement is actually very fluent and natural. This is the best part of FM18 (as far as im concerned): the 3d animations/reactions and movement on the pitch.

I will give it a go , thank's for the hint. 

[ChelseaSince86]

43 minutes ago, Neil Brock said:

Yes. I think it's made worse by the processing icon pausing at points when the game is actually processing. But yes, it's part of the issue. Thanks. 

Nailed it, the spinning thing randomy stops starts.  And when it stops it can cause text to overlap into the wrong day, if it stops spinning as the day is changing.  (if you know what i mean.)  good to know the icon pausing is not our machines, and it is a known issue.   :-)

Edited November 5, 2017 by ChelseaSince86

[GC28]

Can we tone down the colours on the scouting info?,

When playing with the dark skin (who doesn't?) it's an eye killer.

 

[HUNT3R]

1 minute ago, JustAK said:

Two crashes since upgrading to 18.0.3 in less than an hour

 

 

FM 2018 v18.0.3.1036176 (2017.11.05 10.18.08).dmp

FM 2018 v18.0.3.1036176 (2017.11.05 11.01.21).dmp

This is only the feedback thread. Please report this in the crashes section: https://community.sigames.com/forum/563-football-manager-2018-early-access-beta-bugs-forum/

[Pompey1978]

50 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

I have to say, I'm really surprised that I seem to have been the only person on here to mention the fact you can't see the tactical analysis on the pitch view during a match, meaning when you make a formation change during a game, you don't get to see its strengths or weaknesses or any of the 'dynamic' lines between the players. Baffling how this would be implemented so well pre-game but not during it. 

The fact I've never seen more people complain about this leads me to think there's a hidden button somewhere that releases this feature...

I noticed it early doors but didn't mention it because I saw someone else - you - had already mentioned it 

The workaround - as such - is to click on the word Tactics in the top right corner of the window, which then takes you to the regular vertically-presented pitch and has the tactical analysis. A bit clunky, but that could be said about a lot of the UI this year.

[SebastianBSM]

FM is running worst with every update they made. At least on my PC. Losing too much time on the match screen. 

Im not mad though I know they are working on this area but it's very frustrating.

 

[Peljam]

My experience sounds different from a few here but the latest update has improved the performance vastly. It is much faster/smoother. I'm really enjoying it. It still takes a few too many clicks to do certain things but I'm otherwise really enjoying it.

[Dagenham_Dave]

26 minutes ago, Pompey1978 said:

The workaround - as such - is to click on the word Tactics in the top right corner of the window, which then takes you to the regular vertically-presented pitch and has the tactical analysis. A bit clunky, but that could be said about a lot of the UI this year.

I get to that screen but the analysis option is greyed out, that's the whole point. I'm now thinking this isn't the same for everyone? 

[SebastianRO]

The fluidity of game was bad before the update (it freezed during match when I apply new instructions) or at half time / full time, but even after the update it's still the same. I only had 2 crashes (1 before this update and 1 after), but the game overall performance needs serious improving. My laptop is very powerful, so that's out of the question.

Edited November 5, 2017 by SebastianRO

[Pompey1978]

5 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

I get to that screen but the analysis option is greyed out, that's the whole point. I'm now thinking this isn't the same for everyone? 

Hmm actually now you mention it, you're right, it is. That's annoying.

[SpillBlood]

Wait, where did the colours go?

[fm2020.smith]

anyone else having problems loaning players out to feeder clubs ? mine just wont go no matter i do 

[Armistice]

9 hours ago, turgi said:

Anyone else get that after making a sub? 

I think it happens before making a sub too.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

7 hours ago, Fritz13 said:

I’ve never been able to dock any of the widgets during the in game highlights using my laptop - when I move them I see a small yellow arrow but I can’t see how to select it.

any help would be much appreciated

To dock you drag the widget over to the yellow icon and when it's in the dock area a read outline should appear, if you release the widget then it will dock, you can then pin it by clicking the pin icon in the top corner.

[roykela]

Just now, michaeltmurrayuk said:

To dock you drag the widget over to the yellow icon and when it's in the dock area a read outline should appear, if you release the widget then it will dock, you can then pin it by clicking the pin icon in the top corner.

I have reported it in the bugs forum and it's a known issue, but;
Do you know of any way to bring back widgets that have disappeared? I've tried deleting cache and all that but nothing i've tried have worked.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

1 minute ago, roykela said:

I have reported it in the bugs forum and it's a known issue, but;
Do you know of any way to bring back widgets that have disappeared? I've tried deleting cache and all that but nothing i've tried have worked.

You can try manually deleting your cache and preferences files (though export any custom views first as this will delete them) as that should do a fuller reset than the in-game option, if that doesn't work then you'd need to wait for the bug to be fixed.

https://community.sigames.com/faq/football-manager-2018/134_how-to/

[Sticx]

12 hours ago, Sticx said:

Some observations from my first save:

 

First, what is up with Man City. They start the game this year almost completely broke just like last year. For one of two teams owned by a country, how can they have no money in the bank? 

In my first play through, both Guardiola and Sarri have both been sacked by their respective clubs. So two of the best managers in world football are gone in the first two months of the season. Something is seriously wrong with this. Some of us want to put ourselves against the best managers in the game and it is almost gamebreaking to me that this happens just like it did last year. I don't think Guardiola lasted past Christmas in any of my saves in FM2017. I started a save in Italy to play against the likes of Sari and he is gone within 2 months. 

A.C. Milan have a loan debt of 115 million to start the game and it is scheduled to be payed off completely in less than a year and a half. So I am getting a monthly debt of 8.4 million. It's kind of hard to run a club that will be bankrupt in 3 months. This has to be a bug. I hope.

By the middle of December as mentioned above, Guardiola and Sarri are sacked. City, Napoli, and Juve are all knocked out of the champions league in the group stages. Napoli sit in 15th in SerieA with a goal differential of -14. City are 9th in he PL, -1 goal differential. Sevilla sit atop LaLiga. In 16 games, Barcelona have 5 draws and 2 losses already and have just 32 points. 

 

Just how how is any of this acceptable with less than a week to go before the game officially releases?

Would like to add that I'm really dissapointed that short corners are still broke from last year. My second player still stands far too far from the kick taker and gets tackled right away by the ai defender. I feel like I should have the option as a manager to run short corners to recycle possession but I'm basically left without that option because no one bothered to fix them. 

[michaeltmurrayuk]

8 hours ago, turgi said:

Where did the swap position instruction disappear? 

It should be located on the Tactics -> Players screen in the middle panel under the instructions.

[kandersson]

9 minutes ago, michaeltmurrayuk said:

To dock you drag the widget over to the yellow icon and when it's in the dock area a read outline should appear, if you release the widget then it will dock, you can then pin it by clicking the pin icon in the top corner.

Michael I'm afraid this is one of the several things you can't do on lower resolutions.

[bababooey]

On 11/4/2017 at 09:11, roykela said:

FM18 Feedback:

Pros:
- Analysis on The tactic screen. Nice to see the anticipated covered and uncovered areas when setting up tactics.

- Match Preview screen.

- Team line-ups screens pre-match.

- Analysis tab during matches.

Cons:
- Custom Views. Still not improved and has taken a step back. They're all over the place, especially when re-sizing. Although it was relatively stable in FM17 it has been a mess for a long, long time.

- Dynamics. Couldn't care less about the dynamics. Especially at the moment when it's very, very sensitive and over the top. At my current club all players opposed me when i arrived.
  Now there are 22 players (entire first team squad) who have no real opinion of me. Things have improved massively.
  Still, if there is only one player that is on the "oppose you" side and none on the "support you" side there will be meetings left and right because of the bad dressingroom atmosphere.

- Social Groups and Happiness. Don't care about the Social Groups and don't care about that happiness screen.

- Tactics screen. Prefer the mentality, team shape etc. to be at the top of the screen instead of the side. Makes it harder for me to create custom views and easier to access.
  Reduce formation button and the pin button wouldn't be needed if that was accessible from the top. And with wonky custom views it does more harm than good for me having to constantly reduce and expand that panel.

- Squad Depth. Realise it's the same as in FM17 but i dislike having to scroll up and down to be able to get an overview of the squad.

- Medical Centre. Don't care about any of that or what's under each "tab" in that section.

- Scouting. Find it extremely tedious and user unfriendly. Packages are all well and good but it's just so clunky and tedious.
  The system and presentation with different players in FM17 was almost perfect, for me. Being given a report card, as a news item, with clickable cards that disappear i find bafflingly weird.
  Just give me a list of players and i'll review those myself. Almost everything about it is just tedious and has taken a few steps back in user friendliness.

- UI in general. Clunky. User unfriendly. So many additional clicks compared to what was right there in previous versions.
  It's not that long ago since SI was on a mission trying to reduce clicks to get where you wanted to go, while being presented with as much relevant information as possible.
  That has gone some way backwards.
  Tactics during a match i find very annoying. You have a pitch tab and a list tab. I want the information on both screens on the same screen. As in when you click the 3rd option at the top left.
  That's the screen that should be presented to me. There i have all the information i want and need. And it could only take one click as well to get there. And on top of it, the Pitch tab has the pitch horizontally instead of vertically.
  The Team Instructions, when clicking Tactics in-match, Set Pieces and OI have the same background as Mentality, Familiarity and Intensity. There's an indicator that shows they are different (in this case, clickable) but it would be nice
  if they had something else (different background, being visibly boxed etc.) to indicate they are clickable items.
  Highlights and messages in-match being at the top of the screen. I'd like that to be at the bottom of the screen. Now, for me, all of the just fades away. I don't have my eyes up there at all.
  I like to focus downwards. If it's up there, as mentioned, it just fades away and i will end up ignoring it completely.

- Pre-match Briefing. Don't care. Just more annoying clicks.

- Social feed. Waste of time and energy for me. Even more annoying when i'm managing all over the world and still have to customise what i want presented to me everytime i get a new job, due to assistant including stuff that i really don't care about.
  Would like a permanent preferrable setting.

- Teamtalks. Simply a change for the worse UI-wise.

- Timebar during matches. Bring it down to the bottom where i can actually pay attention to it.

- Goalkeepers still can't handle crosses. Treats them as the most amazing shots which they have to palm/fist over the bar, or dive after the cross that goes 3 meters outside the post.

- Players still not recognising they have free players they can pass the ball to, when backtracking when closed down.

- The "need" to lift the ball from the ground regardless of distance to teammate when passing the ball.

- Defenders kicking the ball to corner on backpasses (mostly when using their not-preferred foot). This has been there since FM15. It was massively reduced with one of the patches but re-introduced with FM16.
  It stayed put in FM17 and is still there in this iteration.


The overall feeling i get from this Beta is that it is a game i would love to love. At the moment i can't find the joy or the interest when i spend time with it.
It feels like a chore. Unintuitive and clunky UI kind of puts me off playing the game.
It feels like it has gone backwards. Not feature-wise but user friendly-wise. There will always be features i don't care about and features i love.
This, in spite of my love for the game, have me questioning myself whether i should go back to FM17 or not. That is a question i never ask myself.
I always go with the new and improved. Only this time i can't say (so far, after 51 hours) it has been improved.
It has worsened.
Now, the pros vs cons in this post might make it seem like i really dislike the game. I don't!
They are things that have caught my attention. 
But i can't say i love FM18 either. Or even that i really like it. I don't!
I'm just not impressed at all with the game and it leaves me with an indifferent feeling.
Mostly because of the UI.

Anyway. The current feedback from me might change after a few updates and having spent more time with the game.
Would/will it change for better or for worse?
Time will tell, and they all lived happily ever longing.
Time to go to bed children. Nighty-night  

 

All of this, agreed.

I have to wonder... if the Devs focused on the core game, and threw away any time spent on "gay players coming out", dynamics, social feeds, journalist questions, etc.  it could be SO much better. 

[fm2020.smith]

there are no stats in the under 18 leagues about the players or the teams ? anyone else get this 

[Sanjuro]

Where on earth is my player shortlist in FM18? Am I completely dense, or has it been hidden away somewhere?

I think my actionable feedback for the FM team is: please make the player shortlist easier to find. 

 

EDIT: Of course I find it 30 seconds after posting. Please ignore me.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Sanjuro

[Dagenham_Dave]

24 minutes ago, bababooey said:

if the Devs focused on the core game, and threw away any time spent on "gay players coming out", dynamics, social feeds, journalist questions, etc.  it could be SO much better. 

That's not really how software development works, unless it's back in the 'bedroom' days of the 1980s when one person would design and code the entire game.